RE: Saiyuki An Unlikely Story
by ImaginAries
Summary: A rewrite of the original 'Saiyuki: An Unlikely Story" - The guys are sent to our world in order to find the reincarnations of Elemental deities sent to another realm as punishment from the Heavens. OC's, NO MARY SUES. R&R please!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not my work. All characters belong to the lovely and talented Kazuya Minekura. All original characters belong to...themselves. :) I'm making no profit in writing this fanfiction except for the pleasure of doing so. **

**A/N: _I try very hard not to create Mary Sue-like characters. I rather despise such OC's, so you won't find them in my story. OC's are kept as realistic as I possibly can make them. If you are a reader from the original story and already know who the originals are modeled after, I would appreciate it if you'd let the new guys figure it out on their own ;) Constructive reviews are well-received. Flamers will more or less be ignored. All I can say is please, read more than just a few chapters before making a full-fledged opinion. Thanks!_**

**Prologue**

**_Tenkai Ruins- 500 Years Ago_**

A pair of indigo hued eyes turned wistfully toward skies of perpetual blue. A vision as unchanging as the day the realm of the heavens was formed ironically belied the horrific events that had recently come to pass. One could not deny the calmness of such a beautiful sky, ever cloudless and steeped in harmony. Yet one could not deny the calamity which had befallen the sacred home of resting souls, immortals, and gods alike.

Chaos had ensued this day.

Those promised the sanctity of Tenkai, the protection of an immortal life had fought against forces they never would have imagined they'd rise against. The safety net of agelessness, of living forever in peace, had been cast off with the smoldering corpses drowning in a tumultuous sea of crimson.

Closing her eyes, the buxom goddess who had witnessed the atrocities from a distance turned toward the expanse on ground level. She needn't look upon what lay before her here, for she had the image already engraved in her memory.

What should have been was a field bejeweled with blooms and fragrant trees as far as the eye could see.

Instead, it was something none who remained in the heavens should ever want to cast their gazes upon again. Yet she would see it always.

Those sweet smelling plants all scorched beyond recognition. Naked limbs of trees scored by blade and fire alike reached toward the sky as if pleading for their lost lushness. Their branches once holding magnificent Sakura petals now were broken with Death.

Patches of blackened earth pock-marked the once colorful Sakura orchard. Rings of withered grasses yellowed toward each other, soaked in the drying blood of the foes who had fallen there. The bodies were gone, taken away by the army of Tenkai to be laid to rest forever, yet their screams still echoed eerily in the goddess' ears.

The stream which started at one end of the grassland and ran glittering and bubbling out of sight had been dried up. Victim to the extremities of the battlefield, all flora and fauna in the immediate vicinity had simply stopped to exist. In the land where Life was extended, here there was nothing at all left.

The goddess waited, holding her breath for even the smallest hint of a temperate breeze to caress her face. For the sound of rustling sweet grass or the charred stalks of flowers to reach her ears.

It never came.

It may never again.

Not even the grace of the wind would alight the toiled grounds.

Not for a very long time.

The struggle had been a brutal one. Who could have foreseen the seemingly small army under command of a self-proclaimed leader being any match for the four responsible for all Life and Death? The very founders of Tenkai itself felled by the hands of those of lesser power...it did not add up to the goddess, yet it was what she had seen.

Where had it begun? What incident was there to set all of it in motion? Why had the Four allowed themselves to be turned upon one another so easily?

Footfalls approached from behind the Bodhisattva; she relinquished her gaze to the silver-haired subordinate coming to her side.

His gray eyes took in the desecrated terrain before them while he remained silent for a time, respecting those who would never return to this world or any other.

"Can anything be done, Merciful Goddess?"

Raven locks swung from a high-set ponytail as the deity shook her head in uncertainty.

"Perhaps, though now...now there is very little we _can_ do, Jiroushin. What has come to pass is still too fresh. The self-named Jade Emperor is on the rise to power and he's gathered many followers. The only ones who could have stopped him from corrupting our peace are gone. One imprisoned indefinitely...the other Seven...dead."

The quiet hung heavily over the pair for a stretch of a few minutes. It may as well have been an eternity, for time had no bearings in Tenkai. The world was separate from those who had only so many years before Death took them. Yet an eternity in the heavens now would seem dreadfully dull after the loss of those who had made it so lively.

"Jiroushin." The Merciful Goddess at last spoke, turning toward her junior. "Have you heard any news of reprieve for those charged by the Emperor?"

The subsidiary god's eyes brightened briefly- this was why he sought the goddess in the first place.

"Yes. The Seven are due for reincarnation in the Lower World."

"Is that so?" Her voice mused in laced skepticism.

While it may seem like a lucky break to some, the hard life of a mortal in Togenkyo was not always as simple as one might hope. There had to be a catch. A man as harsh as the Jade Emperor would not likely leave the sentence to something as easy as reincarnation as mortals.

"However," Jiroushin continued, catching the knowing glint in the goddess' eyes. "They are destined to a multiple-life sentence of hardship after hardship. The Seven must never cross paths in each others' lives again. Their Fates have been sealed by the Emperor himself. The Eighth must spend his life eternally imprisoned. He is granted no reprieve for his crimes."

The Merciful Goddess placed a finger to her red-painted lips, trying not to let the news distress her. "What has he done..?"

The rhetoric set to motion the wheels of her thoughts, turning in hopes of coming across an idea- any idea- that may save their precious Tenkai from absolute turmoil. Long had this Emperor overlooked the Bodhisattva as a possible powerful enemy. She was one deity just short of the final ascension to enlightenment. Her duties called her to oversee mortals, to lend a hand whenever it might be necessary. How could one such as she possibly hold a flicker of threat to the god marching his way to a seat of ruling?

It seemed that could be the Merciful Goddess' only advantage. She would have to play her abilities to tempt Fate into twisting away from its guided path. Perhaps all was not lost; perhaps the Seven could be saved.

Nevertheless, the effort wouldn't go without some price- but that would be dealt with when the occasion was met.

The Seven would have to lead their difficult lives and muddle through the troubles that may befall them. They were likely doomed to repeat these lives until the Emperor decided that they had been punished enough and could be granted full reprieve of reincarnation. They would die and their souls would disappear, returning neither to light, nor to Tenkai.

She had to find a way to prevent that. They must all be brought together somehow.

The Eighth- a rambunctious chimp-like youth sentenced to eternal imprisonment beneath the great Mount Gogyou- would have to remain patient. It was not an easy task, as the boy had been the most impatient thing the goddess had ever seen. She brought him together with her nephew, one of the Seven, with great expectations of the duo.

Those plans would remain suspended until all those who belonged together met once more.

"What of the Elements?" Jiroushin inquired, breaking the goddess' mindful scheming. "The power has been dispelled from them. Extracted and stored...what can we do about that?"

A wry smile curled the goddess' mouth. "Keep them safe of course. It won't be an easy feat, but then what in this life is easy anymore?"

"What are you planning? Mistress Kanzeon?" The subordinate shuffled after her as she took long strides toward the inner walls of Tenkai's outlying border.

"I have something of a...daunting mission for you Jiroushin. Are you up to it?"

"Up to it?" The silver-locked god narrowed his severe eyebrows, gathering his robes into his fists to keep up with Kanzeon. He felt a rise of acid fluctuating in his throat. Stress always gave him heartburn.

He followed the black-haired Bodhisattva through the red and gold pillared corridors of the Tenkai city limits until she suddenly stopped, ducking behind one of the broad cylinders.

Just across the corridor were four guards, armed heavily with their spears and blades, surrounding a massive ornate golden door.

"The treasury," Kanzeon whispered to Jiroushin, never once taking her eyes from the army's servants.

From around the corner, an emissary sent by the Jade Emperor stalked the hall with clipped precision, a party of three more guards accompanying his short travels. A small sound emitted from the goddess' throat, though it was not the foolishly decorated emissary who had caught her attention, but what he _carried_.

Jiroushin gulped soundlessly. "What are you thinking?"

"Look." Kanzeon murmured, nodding her head to a crushed velvet pillow holding four distinctly different spheres the size of small grapefruit.

Each orb shone with glimmering colors, setting them apart from the next: one with swirls of white, yellow, and pale blue; the next of varying shades of green and rich brown; the third swimming in deep aqua and touches of coral; the final flashing with fierce reds and oranges.

The guards remained oblivious to the eyes watching them, stepping aside to allow the emissary to pass through the newly opened doors. As the servant disappeared inside, Jiroushin feared that Kanzeon may try and send him to ambush the men- and he was certainly no warrior.

Kanzeon smoothed the gauzy white film of the outfit she deemed a 'dress' and stepped out casually into the view of the guards. Jiroushin, frightened by what his imagination was filling his head with, quickly fell into step beside the goddess, relieved when she merely nodded in the direction of the armed men and continued walking.

She was not, however, without the benefit of a fast glance inside the treasury before the doors closed.

Once the pair had traveled back to the Merciful Goddess' quarters- a pristine, open-aired chamber filled with light- Kanzeon took her place upon the cushion of a white, high-backed wood-carved chair.

It was then that she graced her subordinate with the reply of what plot she cared to carry out.

"I do think, Jiroushin, that a nice game of Shogi is in order. Be a good helpful hand and fetch the game board, would you?"

Puzzled by his goddess' command, yet finding no way to question it, the robed male disappeared to find the ancient strategy game.

Kanzeon rested her chin in one slender palm, bangles clinking around her wrist. "Let the games begin."


	2. Chapter One: Thought Provoking

**Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not my work. All characters belong to the lovely and talented Kazuya Minekura. All original characters belong to...themselves. :) I'm making no profit in writing this fanfiction except for the pleasure of doing so. **

**A/N: _I try very hard not to create Mary Sue-like characters. I rather despise such OC's, so you won't find them in my story. OC's are kept as realistic as I possibly can make them. If you are a reader from the original story and already know who the originals are modeled after, I would appreciate it if you'd let the new guys figure it out on their own ;) Constructive reviews are well-received. Flamers will more or less be ignored. All I can say is please, read more than just a few chapters before making a full-fledged opinion. Thanks!_**

**Chapter One: Thought Provocation**

_Chicago Suburbs, Present Day_

A storm loomed over the busy suburban crossroads, threatening with shocks of lightning spiking across the gray and black mottled clouds to pour its contents upon those below. People scattered from their workplaces and out of the small strip malls, rushing to their cars in an attempt to find cover and make it home before the downpour. Energy burst across the horizon in a brilliant flash, the low grumble of thunder giving a shake to the earth.

Umbrellas snapped open for those who were wise enough to carry- those unfortunate to be stuck traveling on foot during disagreeable weather conditions. A mass of black water-resistant material dotted the pavement as bodies quickened their steps toward their respectable destinations.

The rain descended at precisely six-oh-seven PM- simultaneous with the time that a young woman stepped outside of her workplace. The small, local bank had just closed for the day, precursor to a two week vacation the bank teller had been looking forward to for quite some time. However, the weather had managed to change her cheerful disposition into one of fast disappointment.

Brown eyes lifted toward the skies in contempt.

"Really rain? You had to come now?" She hoped it wasn't a sort of omen of how the next fourteen days would pan out: somber and boring.

As the cool drops bombarded the earth, they created a speckled effect on the lenses of the young teller's spectacles and she squinted to see past the watery film. Without the luxury of her own vehicle, her mode of transportation was strictly to rely on her legs, the bus, or the kindness of others. Shrugging off the burden of treading through the rain, the twenty-two year old turned toward the direction of the crosswalk and only made it one step before someone called to her.

"Hey Amanda! Do you need a ride?"

The woman grimaced, crinkling her nose for a moment at the use of her full name. She preferred to have others call her by the shortened name of Mandi, but it lacked the professional ring of one working inside of a bank. It was virtually an office job, though she was certain the customers would care less whether her nameplate read 'Amanda', 'Mandi', or 'Joe-Schmoe'.

Pivoting on the heels of her Mary-Jane shoes, Mandi looked across the parking lot to the Puerto-Rican co-worker leaning against his sleek, silver BMW. It was certainly one of her favorite cars- and she certainly thought that a ride with the good looking young man might not be so horrible- yet she almost felt in the mood to be sopping wet from the rain. Of course, if she could afford a car- _any car_- she would have bought one in a heartbeat. Finances, unfortunately, did not permit such a luxury. At the rate she was going, she would likely never have the blessing of leather interior and a motorized mode of getting from Point A to Point B.

"No, I'm fine Byron. Thanks anyway. See ya in two weeks!" Mandi waved as she resumed her initial path, catching what she thought was a ''suit yourself'' from the naturally tanned man before he slid into the comfort of his dry car.

The young woman tucked her hair- streaked with cherry red for just a touch of non-conformity- back behind her ears before shoving her hands into the pockets of a nylon spring jacket. She set her focus upon the horizon, lips pressed together tightly.

Something in the air just did not feel right.

Even though the lightning cracked, and thunder growled, and the rain fell in sheets- there was absolutely no wind. Not even a whisper of it. The clouds were absolutely still and unmoving above her, as though they were fixated on the spot they had chosen to release their heavy burden.

A tension seemed to build, waiting to burst somehow.

Mandi ducked her head, tearing her eyes away from the horizon. It was giving her the heebie-jeebies. Heaving a sigh, the warmth of her breath traveled upward, leaving a foggy steam to cover the lenses sitting in the oval tortoise-shell frames on her slightly rounded face.

In the next moment of apparent obliviousness to her obscured vision, the sound of several car horns sounded in alarm and a strong grip on her shoulder yanked a baffled Mandi back onto the sidewalk.

"You really should watch where you're going!" A female voice scolded, resonating with authoritativeness.

Spinning to face the woman who had gripped her, Mandi lifted her eyebrows. "Eh?"

"You could have been killed." The stranger said from behind the veil of a black umbrella. It obscured almost all of her face. "And if you were killed...well, that would be _most_ troublesome."

"Uh...yeah, I guess that it would be." The medium-brown eyes widened in the realization of what had almost happened. Had she really nearly just walked out into the middle of traffic? "Thanks for that."

The woman lifted the edge of her umbrella, revealing a vague smile and a bit of smooth, creamy complexioned skin. The rest of her face remained shaded beneath the breadth of the black canopy.

"_Do_ try to be more careful. Things will be ruined if you went so early on. There is so much left to do."

Uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading, Mandi shifted her weight from one foot to another, crossing her arms beneath her bust.

"I'll...uh, keep that in mind. I better get going now. Thanks again."

"Go where?" The umbrella shook once, presumably with the reverberations of the stranger's silent laughter; then swept to one side to show the woman's entire face. A lotus blossom insignia spread its petals across the peak of the rain-parasol, looking quite out of place in the midst of an American suburb.

Mandi took a step backward at the woman's motion, startled by the flash of indigo eyes set above high cheekbones. The stranger was of Asian heritage, yet the young woman was no idiot. Asians didn't have naturally blue-violet eyes. They were just about always dark in their color.

Contacts, perhaps, though the bank teller second guessed this.

"Go where? I'm going home." Mandi found her voice, trying to avoid the hold that the woman's eyes had on her. Why did it feel as though her very soul was being placed on the table for open viewing?

A chuckle escaped the stranger and the umbrella rose to shadow her face once more.

"You waste your life on such trivial fancies. Working day in, day out, and going home to a lonely dinner. Afterward, you occupy the rest of the night's hours in front of a screen or bent over some book or paper. Your dreams are big, yet are spent uselessly. I had hoped your senses wouldn't have become so dull. Isn't it _boring_?"

Taking a bit of offense, possibly because the statements were true, Mandi raised her eyebrows.

"Who are you? Some kind of crazed stalker?"

"My name isn't of any relevance right now. I do know _your name_, however. In fact, I know both of them...and all of your names."

Puzzled, Mandi stared blankly at the woman. _'What does she mean by that? All of who?'_

The stranger went on. "Tell me- don't you grow tired of monotony? Isn't it your deepest desire to have those things you watch on your screen come true? For adventure and danger to find you and sweep you away from the dull routine of your life?"

"Sure, but who doesn't?" Came the retort. "But I'm not exactly cut out for that kind of thing. In case you haven't noticed, this is reality and it's pretty damn bland. Chances are, nothing that exciting will ever happen to me, or the people I know."

Turning away, the brunette twenty-two year old raised a hand to wave off the woman. "If you aren't going to tell me who you are, then I'm going home now."

With pursed lips, the woman watched as the girl safely crossed the intersection. "Not all roads can be traveled so conventionally, you know. Of all places, of all realms, this is the one they had to occupy. Things are going to get tricky..."

...On the opposite side of the crosswalk, Mandi fought the urge- and failed- to look over her shoulder at whether or not the woman was still watching her. She had gone. Seemingly vanished on the spot. Not even the lotus flower on top of the umbrella could be found amidst the stragglers still roaming the sidewalks.

What had all of that been, anyway? Strange people came into the bank every day, but Mandi wasn't so sure she'd ever met somebody quite so enigmatic before.

"That was definitely weird. How did she know all those things about me?"

Trying to shake it off, she plodded across the puddled walkway, taking notice of how laden with water her tights had become. Moisture had seeped into the top openings of her shoes, causing discomfort, squelching with every step the young woman took toward home.

Mandi began to regret not taking Byron's offer. If she _had_, she'd already be home. Dry and comfortable in her pajamas, enjoying leftovers for supper and lazing about in front of the television or computer.

The idea of it brought a frown to her face.

So maybe the odd woman had been pretty dead on about the lifestyle Mandi led.

She was stuck in a rut, sticking only to those things she had become comfortable with.

Snorting to herself, Mandi tried once more to put those words out of her head. Yet the Asian stranger's face kept creeping back into her mind's eye. The woman had rather reminded her of somebody. Speaking so cryptically; the obvious weight of her words lined with a hint of amusement...

...but the person Mandi thought of didn't exist.

Not _really_.

Unless, somehow it were possible.

"Nah, can't be. That would be just a little too strange. Aaand now I'm talking to myself. Also kind of weird..."

Finally suppressing her thoughts, Mandi began to hum a tune at random as a way to keep her attention off of the woman and her loaded words. As the rain relentlessly beat down, the young woman made a feeble attempt to clean off her glasses by removing them and rubbing the lenses with the hem of her soaking wet shirt. Occupied by the impossible task, she paid no mind to the obstacle directly before her until the toe of her shoe caught on it and caused her to stumble forward.

Giving a small hop to regain balance, Mandi slipped her smeared glasses into her coat pocket and looked at the offending item: a leather backpack lying smack in the middle of the sidewalk with its contents sprawled about.

"What the hell? Where did _that_ come from?" She quickly looked about, finding nobody remotely close to where she was walking who might have somehow not noticed they had dropped the bag.

The contents were few, but well water-logged: A large square of paper, unfolded and face down lay nearly pasted to the sidewalk; a brochure beside it, and a random assortment of food ruined by the weather or the spill littered the grass.

Curious to see if any identification could be inside of the bag, Mandi stooped down to pick it up. Peering inside and sticking in a hand to rummage, she found nothing but a nearly empty pack of Marlboro Reds cigarettes. Reaching to the ground, she carefully peeled the paper plastered to the cement, discovering that it was some sort of map. It had been marked up, though the ink had run and smudged so badly that the young woman couldn't tell what the map had been of to begin with. The brochure tore as she picked it up, though it was nothing special. They could be found in most convenient stores or gas stations in her town and contained information of special landmarks or hotels in the area.

Placing both the map and torn brochure back into the bag, Mandi decided to leave the spoiled food. The birds would take it- she wouldn't put her hands on it or ruin the interior of the backpack. Clinging to the strap of the large pouch she stood straight and resumed walking to the final crosswalk. Never before had the walk home from work taken so bloody long.

Then again, never had the walk home from work been so eventful.

She wasn't sure what she should do with the newly acquired bag, and it swung at her side as she tried to make some sort of decision. Leaving it where she found it seemed silly- somebody else could trip over it like she had. Taking it home felt like stealing, though there was nobody to return it to.

Coming up to the edge of the crosswalk, Mandi toed the curb, waiting for the light to change so that she might get to the other side. No sooner did she begin to step forward did a vehicle suddenly veer to a halt right in front of her.

Flailing her arms as she leaped back from the street, the young woman became lively and animated. "Is every damn car out to kill me today?"

She prepared a flurry of curses to spit at the driver, or whomever was about ready to address her. However, as the passenger side window rolled down a few inches and a gruff male voice spoke, Mandi held her tongue.

"That belongs to me."

Holding up the bag by its strap, Mandi pointed to it. "This does?"

"Do you see anything else you have that doesn't belong to you?"

"Uh...no." Mandi stood on her tip toes, trying to peer through the opening at who was speaking to her, but to no avail.

"I would like it back. Now."

Coffee-colored eyes narrowed. "How do I know it's actually yours? You could have seen me picking it up. Or maybe you're trying to rob me- though I'll tell you, there isn't really anything valuable in this thing."

"What?" The voice returned, clearly annoyed. "I'm not trying to _rob you_. There is a map, a brochure, a pack of cigarettes, some food. It's my bag, now give it to me."

"Hey are you talking to a girl?" A second male voice, presumably from the back seat, called out to the first man. "Is she cute?"

"_Shut-up!_" The first shouted before rolling the window down another inch or so. "Give it here."

Mandi took a cautious step forward. "How did it get outside in the first place? If you want it back so badly, why was it in the grass out in the rain?"

"There was a disagreement and one of these idiots threw it out of the window when I wasn't looking. Are you giving me the bag or do I have to take it by force?" Impatient, the unseen man thrust a pale hand out of the window, waving his fingers to beckon the young woman closer so that he may take the bag.

Left with little choice, Mandi moved closer to the vehicle and offered out the backpack. "Alright, alright, relax. I didn't want to give it to the wrong person- hey!"

The pack became ensnared by the man's grip, roughly ripping it from the twenty-two year old's unprepared hand.

"Jeez, you're welcome?"

"Thank you!" A third, different voice piped up before the window slid up into place.

As abruptly as the vehicle had pulled up, it peeled away, nearly hydro-planing across to the next lane. Mandi only had enough time to recognize it as a dark green Jeep Wrangler with a smiley-face tire cover on the rear.

"A Jeep, huh? First that lady, then the book-bag..now a Jeep?" She muttered, sensing that somehow the incidents were related.

Then again, it could very well just be her over-active imagination stretching out for some break in the invariable everyday non-events.

As her house became visible through the rainy haze, Mandi gave up on her last shred of sanity for the day. Let her blasted imagination run away with things all it wanted. She only cared about getting inside, changing into something warm and dry, having her supper, and plopping down before the computer to find normalcy somewhere online.

At the very least she'd have an interesting story to tell her friends later.


	3. Chapter Two: Whispered Dreams

**Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not my work. All characters belong to the lovely and talented Kazuya Minekura. All original characters belong to...themselves. :) I'm making no profit in writing this fanfiction except for the pleasure of doing so. **

**A/N: _I try very hard not to create Mary Sue-like characters. I rather despise such OC's, so you won't find them in my story. OC's are kept as realistic as I possibly can make them. If you are a reader from the original story and already know who the originals are modeled after, I would appreciate it if you'd let the new guys figure it out on their own ;) Constructive reviews are well-received. Flamers will more or less be ignored. All I can say is please, read more than just a few chapters before making a full-fledged opinion. Thanks!_**

**Chapter Two: Whispered Dreams**

_Chicago Suburbs, Present Day_

Later that evening, after her belly had been sated by a reheated meal, and wet clothes were replaced by dry pajamas, Mandi made way to her room on the second floor. She switch on the computer which had patiently waited for her to come home, and made herself comfortable in the high-backed computer chair. While the machine booted up, she took a moment to let her eyes wander around the master bedroom.

Here, her obsession with an art form called Anime reigned loud and proud in every direction. Poster inserts from magazines and DVD s featuring her favorite titles decorated almost every inch of wall space. Figurines collected from stores and online sites occupied the majority of flat surface space where games, movies, and books did not. It was certainly a costly hobby, and very well the reason why she could only afford to rent the house she lived in cheaply from her grandparents. A regular apartment and car payments for the vehicle that Mandi needed but lacked were outside of her financial means.

All because of Anime.

Nevertheless, she adored her collections.

The majority of her memorabilia was of a certain title which had seemingly brought Mandi and her three friends close together. An animated show known as Gensoumaden Saiyuki, based off of a legendary Chinese myth and brought to life by a brilliant Manga-ka known as Kazuya Minekura, had stolen the four girls' hearts.

That particular title had come to mind earlier that evening when she had her less-than-normal walk home. It was what she'd been reminded of after all three incidents. But the young woman dismissed it as the work of her overactive, over-eager imagination. Most people would think her crazy, but her friends- Ashley, Erin, and Katie, might at least find some entertainment in the story she had to tell. They would, at the very least, understand her view on it, even if it border lined the utterly impossible.

Taking hold of the computer mouse, Mandi opened up her preferred Chat Program and skimmed down the buddy list. Finding only two out of three of her friends available, she clicked them both and invited them into a private room.

_AnimePanda8, WonderAgl5, SnakeyBabe9 have joined the room_

**AnimePanda8: _Hey guys._**

**WonderAgl5: _Howdy! :)_**

**SnakeyBabe9: _Hi-hi!_**

**AnimePanda8: _-Glomps both- Any idea on where Katie is? Ashley?_**

**WonderAgl5: _Probably still stuck at work. Why? Aren't we good enough for you? :P _**

**SnakeyBabe9: _mandi doesn't love us anymore :( _**

**AnimePanda8: _Of course I do! I just have something I want to tell you guys and wanted you all here at once to say it._**

**WonderAgl5: _Something to tell us? Is something wrong?_**

**SnakeyBabe9: _o.o I hope not._**

**AnimePanda8: _Nah, not wrong. Just..._weird.**

**SnakeyBabe9: _what kinda weird?_**

**AnimePanda8: _It was something that happened after work, when I was walking home..._**

**WonderAgl5: _o.O What was it?_**

**AnimePanda8: _Well, it wasn't anything _bad_... when Katie gets online, I'll tell you._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _damn you and your suspense, woman!_**

**AnimePanda9: _u.u lol Sorry..._**

Mandi sighed, leaning back in her chair after relating that she was alright, but couldn't seem to get the events out of her head. Sometimes, she wondered if she purposely sought a way to connect real life to the made up story of Saiyuki. The history of what the title was based upon was not entirely untrue, but she didn't even have a feasible way of linking this world to even that. What did her life, or her friends' lives, have to do with the journey a monk made thousands of years ago halfway across the globe?

All the same, what she and her friends had devoted their fandom to was mostly fabricated fantasy. On what planet did demons, gods, and half-breeds coexist with humanity?

As much as they wished it true, it wasn't. But it was still so much better to dream about it than to lead a life completely without.

**AnimePanda8: _Did you two want to Role-play while we wait for Katie?_**

**WonderAgl5: _-chases tail eagerly- _**

**SnakeyBabe9: _yeah!_**

**AnimePanda8: _lol I guess it's unanimous. I do believe that it's your post, Erin._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _yep! I'm on it!_**

Laughing, Mandi tapped her fingers on the small computer desk as she quietly anticipated her friend's post. Their role-playing games, often set in the Shangri'la – the land of Saiyuki- offered a temporary break from the dredge of the everyday. Things that the young women could not do in real life could be done in the made-up world described through detailed words typed up in their private chat room. They could drown out everything and become completely immersed in adventure.

With that thought, the brunette grew somber.

The woman with the lotus umbrella replayed in her memory; those peculiar indigo eyes boring into Mandi's thoughts like a visionary echo. The words looped like a broken record and stuck a deeper chord than what the twenty-two year old had first thought they did.

How sad _was it_ to restrict fun to that which was created through the means of a computer? To not be able to get out of the house and make their own excitement? Circumstances made it quite difficult for all four to be together, however. While Erin and Mandi had met in high school, they were currently separated by a few states because Erin was in college. Ashley and Katie had the luxury of only living a town apart, and had known one another since childhood, yet they were unable to visit their other two friends- and vice-verse. The Internet and similar interests in Role-playing and Anime had brought united them in companionship over the distance. They had only been able to meet a couple of times in person, yet that hadn't tested their bond of friendship in the least.

They had to have their adventure one way or another, even if they did enjoy the outdoors as much as the next person. There wasn't many other people who understood them individually, thus the four preferred each others' company.

_-Chime! Chime! Chime!- _

Snapping out of her melodramatic thoughts, Mandi blinked at her screen to find several message waiting for her- including one from Katie, wondering what was going on that night.

"Ugh...wake up, Mandi."

**WonderAgl5: _...are you alive? -whimpers-_**

**SnakeyBabe9: _Ma-a-a-andiii!_**

_RosCos3 joined the room_

**AnimePanda8: _Yeah, sorry. I spaced out._**

**RosCos3:_ That explains why it took so long for you to answer. Hey-lo! -glomps all- _**

**AnimePanda8: _Hiya :) About time you showed up._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _what kept you?_**

**RosCos3: _Ran late at work. Bleh. Hey Ashley! One more day!_**

**WonderAgl5: _ :D Yep!_**

**AnimePanda8: _One more day? Til what?_**

**SnakeyBabe9: _...ugh._**

**WonderAgl5: _Don't tell me you forgot about us coming to visit tomorrow night._**

**RosCos3: _I'm so excited! I can't wait to get the hell out of this place for a while._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _rub it in why dontcha?_**

**AnimePanda8: _o.o Oh yeah! Haha, the whole reason I took a vacation from work, duh..._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _you guys all suck, going without me!_**

**RosCos3: _ :/ I'm sorry, love._**

**WonderAgl5: _You're still coming for the second week, right?_**

**SnakeyBabe9: _yep! Stupid final exams... but I'll be ready after those are done! Me and chunky will be driving up as fast as we can!_**

**AnimePanda8: _LOL You still have that junky-chunk?_**

**SnakeyBabe9: _:( I love my Chunkers. Hey, at least it's a car!_**

**AnimePanda8: _Yeah, yeah... :P But anyway, we promise not to have TOO much fun without you here. The real party will start when you get up here and we're off to the convention!_**

**RosCos3: _I can't wait :) _**

**WonderAgl5: _Me neither. I'm surprised nothing has come up so that I suddenly can't make it, since that's how my luck always seems to run._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _well don't jinx it!_**

**RosCos3:_ Even if she does, we'll still kidnap her anyway, muahaha!_**

**WonderAgl5: _I can't believe you really forgot about all of this, Mandi. :P You're slipping in your old age._**

**AnimePanda8: _Shush, you. u.u It just slipped my mind temporarily. No worries, I'm still totally prepared. I saved up enough money for food and fun times. I've just had a bit on my mind tonight..._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _oh yeah! o.o you said there was something you had to tell us. What happened?_**

**RosCos3: _Something happened? What's up, dear?_**

Mandi went on to recount the events from earlier in the evening, tapping the words out speedily as the visions of it played like a movie in her mind. As she went on, a leaden feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. The retelling was bringing on a bout of anxiety, though she couldn't really understand why. Except...what if her friends really did think she was making things up just to create a bit of dramatic mystery? As she typed, the other three remained completely silent, causing Mandi's anxiousness to swell.

It would be fine.

It was just a story. Something that happened to her today.

Really.

The worst that could happen is that they would tease her about it.

Exhaling, Mandi pressed 'enter' and curled her palm over her chin, resting an elbow on the desk.

**RosCos3: _O.o that's...very weird._**

**WonderAgl5: _~.- It does seem strange. You're not exaggerating anything are you?_**

**SnakeyBabe9: _hmm... sort of makes me think of certain characters...you sure you just don't have Saiyuki on the brain?_**

**AnimePanda8: _I'm sure. I didn't dream it up or anything. That was exactly what happened when I was on the way home. It was really odd. And it left me confused. I shouldn't be bothered by it, but I am. I can't ignore it. Who do you think that woman was?_**

**RosCos3: _Hard to tell since we weren't there with you. Maybe she was just messing with you?_**

**AnimePanda8: _She really went out of her way to do it, then. How could she have known all that stuff about me? I mean, do I just have a neon sign over my head that says "I'm a himono-onna!" ?_**

**WonderAgl5: _Lucky guess? _**

**SnakeyBabe9: _you DO work at a bank you know...most people who think of bank employees wouldn't think they have really exciting lives._**

**AnimePanda8: _I guess. I don't know...it just seemed so intrusive. So specific. Like she spied on me at home and knew exactly what I do every single day. Even my co-workers who KNOW me wouldn't ever guess that I spend all of my time watching Anime and chatting online._**

**WonderAgl5: _:P Maybe it was The Merciful Goddess._**

**RosCos3: _That'd be awesome! Yay Kanzeon!_**

**AnimePanda8: _Ha, that'd be the day... You have to admit, there's no making something like that up. It was too weird. She even said she knew both of my names. Then said "I know all of yours." _**

**SnakeyBabe9: _creepy o.o_**

**RosCos3: _Just a bit...but she was probably just trying to freak you out. At least she stopped you from walking into traffic, right? o.o_**

**WonderAgl5: _Yep. That could have ruined all of our plans. _**

**AnimePanda8: _Gee, thanks :P But yeah, at least there was that. _**

Eyelids growing heavy, Mandi rubbed her palms over her face. She felt warm. Undoubtedly, her cheeks had turned red as a tell-tale sign of fatigue. It was only a little after ten PM and she was accustomed to staying awake into the wee hours, but staying awake was taking too much effort.

**RosCos3: _So are we going to RP tonight?_**

**WonderAgl5: _-barks happily- :D_**

**SnakeyBabe9: _that was the plan so long as Mandi doesn't space out again. My post is done._**

**AnimePanda8: _n.n; don't hate me... but I'm really tired all of a sudden. I think I need to get some sleep. I'll see you guys tomorrow, though! Or, Ashley and Katie anyway._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _...fudgekins... alright, I guess it's just us three then!_**

**WonderAgl5: _:( Aw. OK then, see you tomorrow. G'night._**

**RosCos3: _Aww -hugs- Get some sleep then. See you tomorrow! Take care._**

**SnakeyBabe9: _night-night!_**

**AnimePanda8: _Heh, have fun guys. See you later, good night._**

_AnimePanda8 has left the room_

_Anime Panda8 has signed off_

Shutting down the computer, the brunette young woman went straight to her queen sized bed and flopped down on top of the covers, causing her multitude of plushies and stuffed animals to roll and bounce away. Her dark amber eyes stared upward to the slanted ceiling where character faces frozen on posters returned an unblinking vigil. Mandi heaved her umpteenth sigh of the day and shut her eyes.

"Saiyuki," she murmured sleepily. "The stuff of dreams."

She went over the main characters in her mind, all while thinking how much different things would be if they truly existed. The four heroes of a mythological story glimpsed into shadowy figures behind her eyelids: Genjyo Sanzo the 31st of China- an unorthodox gun-toting Buddhist priest; Son Goku the legendary Monkey King – the Great Sage kept under check by a golden diadem; Sha Gojyo the half-blooded demon- an unlucky wretch good with the ladies and card games; Cho Hakkai the Demon Slayer – the tragic youth who lost his family, and his humanity...

They were what Mandi and her friends wished they could be sometimes. Strong, fearless, and always on the move. Always doing, never stopping, always together. Important people with a more important purpose in life.

It was a shame nothing like that would ever happen...

..._An alluring aroma of wisteria and sweet peas mingled in the air in an open field adorned with flowers and the sporadic tree. The singular figure, buxom and curved with femininity stood in the midst enveloped in a hazy fog. The sky, colored a deep azure with the hues of a rising sun seeping in lit the world in morning twilight. A song, haunting and melodic, seemed to rise from the plain, riding the light breeze which swirled about the female form occupying it. _

_ The enshrouded woman stepped soundlessly through the open field toward the West*1, her garments of flowing pale blue, cloudy white, and Sakura grazing the grass blades she tread upon. Long hair, a thick sepia streaming with silver, fell from over her shoulders as she bent forward, bringing fisted palms to her hidden face. She exhaled into her hands before offering them up to the sky; her brilliant golden-brown eyes gleamed upward to the sunlight as she made a whispered decree. _

_ "It is nearly time..."_

**Small Town, Ohio**

Katie pushed back from her computer and shut it down for the night. Her light gray-blue eyes sought out the digital clock across the small confines of her slightly cluttered room. Fixating on the red-dotted numbers, she discovered it to be nearly four-thirty in the morning. Smirking to herself, the twenty-four year old stood and stretched her limbs toward the ceiling before retiring to her twin-sized mattress. She really ought not have stayed on the computer so long, though the role-playing she had partaken in had simply made her lose track of time. Nevertheless, in having such a big trip later in the day, more sleep would have been better. Being an born epileptic, Katie constantly had to monitor how much rest and sustenance she got throughout a day or she ran the risk of suffering from a seizure. Going to bed early, however, had never really been one of her strong suits. Especially not with the distraction of virtually hanging out with her friends.

Gently nudging one of her few cats out of the way, the young woman drew the covers up to her waist and allowed her thoughts to wander a bit. It wasn't so easy to just fall asleep sometimes- she needed to unwind a bit. Maybe it was just the house, or the town, but Katie found it harder and harder to find the rest she needed. Sometimes it seemed that no matter how early she went to bed, she awoke just as tired as she felt the night before.

Then again, a regulated sleeping schedule might be the quick fix to that.

She swept a wave of neck-length ash brown hair out of her eyes and quirked half of a smile. Where was the fun in skipping a late night of role playing? It was her only escape from the world, apart from the books and her horses that she loved so dearly. A girl had to make exceptions for _some_ sort of luxury, after all. If playing a character frolicking about the mystical land of Shangri'la, getting into trouble and risking her life was the way to do it, then why not?

The speculation brought Katie to reflect upon what Mandi had told her and the other two girls before she'd headed to bed. What if it wasn't nothing? Perhaps brushing it off and joking about it wasn't the proper response. Maybe they should all have thought a bit more seriously about what had happened. Funnily enough, Katie could recollect a strange event happening to her before she'd clocked out from work for the day.

_'Too late to say so now,'_ she thought to herself, eyebrows knitting together. Though maybe it was something she should have paid more attention to.

–

_Rain slapped against the wide windows of the beat-up gas station where Katie diligently worked inside. Well- diligently worked on scribbling down her latest idea for a novel in a notebook. It had been a seriously slow shift and she had finished all of the tasks asked of her by the mechanics in the attached garage. The job was not a very difficult one, but it was harrowing to sit patiently for the minutes to tick by and have to deal with customers who seemed to have forgotten their common sense at home. Fortunately, the young woman's boss looked the other way when she brought something to occupy herself with- whether it be a drawing pad, notebook, or something to read. He even looked the other way when Ashley made her way up to the station to keep company with Katie for a few hours, just as she had on this day. _

_ It all made the work-day a bit more bearable, even if the two weren't carrying on much conversation. In a small town, there wasn't much to do- especially not on a bad weather day like this one. _

_ "What are you writing this time?" Ashley asked, closing the Japanese manga she had been reading over the last twenty minutes._

_ Katie shrugged, lifting her pen to press against one of her cheeks in thought. "Meh, I'm not really sure yet. I don't even know if it's going to go anywhere."_

_ The younger, yet taller, girl lifted both of her tawny eyebrows and nodded slowly. "Are you ever going to finish anything?"_

_ "Who knows?" Katie half laughed, setting her pen down, then stood from the stool behind the counter to get her circulation going again. _

_ "You've got ink on your face," Ashley pointed out nonchalantly, gesturing toward the small streak of black on the twenty-four year old's cheek. "The highlight of the day."_

_ The chestnut haired woman licked two fingers and rubbed her face with them. "I know right? Gods, I'm SO bored. I just want this day to be over already."_

_ No sooner had she spoken, the door to the station swung open, incidentally turning up the volume of the storm outside. _

_ A customer. About time._

_ Katie pushed her notebook and pen to the other side of the counter and took her place before the cash register, giving the man who had walked inside a once-over. He appeared to be in the late stages of middle-age, with silvering gray hair and the eyes to match. A bandana was crudely tied around his forehead and he worked on smoothing down what looked to be some kind of cloak. As her gaze traveled toward the floor, Katie took note that the customer also wore socks with leather-thong sandals. Putting aside the fashion faux pas, she hardly thought it was sandal weather. A rainy May day in a town bordering rural countryside really called for boots- or at least sneakers. _

_ The man took a short turn about the interior of the station. There wasn't much place to go- the L-shaped floorspace probably only took six or seven steps to cover entirely. He seemed to be searching for something, and, when he didn't find it, he faced Katie at the register._

_ "Pardon me, Miss, but has a woman with long dark hair come in here?"_

_ Shaking her head, the cashier replied flatly. "Not to my knowledge. You're the first person I've seen besides her- " she nodded toward Ashley, "-since my shift started."_

_ Her light eyes met Ashley's hazel ones briefly. This guy must not have been from around here. _

_ The man sighed, clearly troubled and he stepped toward Ashley. "You've seen nobody with that description?"_

_ "Can't say that I have. I've been here the whole time," the twenty-one year old confirmed. _

_ "I see.. she's so spontaneous. Always going off somewhere else after telling me to meet her at a different location. I normally have no trouble keeping up with her, but this place... I can't really do that here." The older man peered outside through the dirty windows at the storm. "With this weather, I thought for certain this is where she'd be. Thank you anyway."_

_ Without so much as another word, he ducked back outside to brave the storm._

_ Katie and Ashley exchanged glances with a shared sentiment: That guy was certainly an odd-duck..._

–

...Katie's eyelids slid shut as sleep begged to take over. She chuckled at the flash-back, but decided that perhaps it hadn't meant much after all...

..._A pattering in the luxuriant green environment surrounding a clearing beneath the thick canopy of tallow trees brought the feminine figure in the middle to attention. Her fingers and toes had been sifting in the soil, seemingly planting new life to join the elders of the forest. Standing from the kneeling position, she adjusted the wrap of hunter green, mint, almond, and bronze covering her rounded curves. Keeping passive vigil, the woman cautiously __took a step forward toward two trees from which the rustling seemed to come. _

_ From the midst of the indigenous growth, a small agouti colored rabbit doe poked her head out carefully. The lagomorph's pink nose twitched and ears swiveled until they perked forward at the woman. It had heard the song- a seemingly tuneless, yet somehow familiar melody that she hummed even now. Rapid heartbeat calming, the doe freed herself from the tangle of bushes and stood gazing at the figure standing so much taller from the ground than she. _

_ There was no threat here, even though beneath the surface there likely lay impressive power. It was tamed. This person was a friend. _

_ The humming continued, filling the forest with its song as a breeze found its way through the trees and into the clearing. It wound itself around the woman, tousling the waves of mid-back length mahogany hair- tickling the ivy leaves braided into the strands. _

_ A message. _

_ Vivid eyes the shade of silver-slate flashed toward the North as the form bent, plucking up petals from a cloister of wildflowers. As she held out her arm, the wind picked up, snaking around the stretched limb and spirited away the petals as the woman opened her hand. She watched as the delicate colors took flight._

_ "The time is come..."_

**Rural Ohio**

Ashley plopped down onto her king-sized bed wondering where she had gotten the energy to stay awake so long. It must have been the rush she got from pretending to be somebody in another time and place. Not that she really minded being up so late. Role-playing was usually worth it, though she had been a bit disappointed when Mandi ducked out of participating. Their game could only progress so far without the fourth character being involved, otherwise, she'd be completely lost when they decided to play again.

At least the twenty-one year old had the comfort in knowing they all four would be together very soon. Even if it would take Erin an extra week to meet her three friends, Ashley was looking forward to the three hour drive to Mandi's home. They just could not meet up very often, and the last time they had had been nearly a year ago.

Her usually stoic face cracked a faint smile. Getting out of the country for a while would be a nice change of pace. Certainly she was a country girl, born and bred, and was maybe a bit rough around the edges from a childhood of living in a farm environment- but it didn't mean she didn't appreciate getting away sometimes. The country offered tranquility and fresh air, as well as stars that were never drowned out by bright lights. But it lacked in offering a multitude of things to do that didn't require a drive to town, or simply traversing acres of fields for no other reason except to get out of the house.

Sometimes, there really was _nothing_ to do.

Ashley imagined that if there were not so many pets, so many animals to care for, that she would likely leave and search for something better. Something more meaningful and fulfilling.

Her two-week vacation was not so much a break from work, since she had yet to find anywhere in the area that was hiring apart from being an assistant in a vet's office, as it was an escape from monotony. Fourteen days hardly seemed enough time to spend with her friends, but she would take the bargain and try to make the most of it.

With a yawn, Ashley willed sleep to come while her memories flitted over the day's events. She thought briefly on the middle-aged man who had come into the gas station where Katie worked, and how oddly he had been dressed. She frowned. Looking back on the moment reminded her of when she had been preparing to head to town from home and the person she had come across before leaving. Funny she should remember it now, rather than when Mandi had told her own tale...

–

_In the early afternoon, Ashley had set about her outdoor chores which had been neglected for a few more hours of sleep. As she made her way through the endearingly cluttered, old two-story farm house the twenty-one year old carefully stepped over cats and kerosene heaters. Even for late spring, the house could sometimes get a bit cold overnight- not that she really minded it. The cold was refreshing to the young woman. _

_ Reaching the back door, Ashley pushed it open and ignored the nagging calls from her mother and visiting older sister. She assumed they were griping at her for having slept in so late (or for staying up all night again), but she didn't rightly care. So long as things got done around the house, that was all that should matter. Giving a roll of her hazel eyes the tall young woman shut the door behind her and left the shade of the run-down awning hanging dangerously low over slab of cement and stone acting as a back porch. _

_ As the sunlight touched her face, she smiled for a second until noticing the gray clouds off to the West. There wasn't supposed to be any rain or storms today, but then again, when had the weather forecasts ever been one-hundred percent accurate? _

_ Setting about her duties, Ashley made her rounds feeding the animals which populated the large property. The horse, the cow, the barn cats and kittens, and the ducks all received their feedings before she finished with going around the individually penned dog and refreshed their water and food bowls. Barking reverberated around the house as the canines- all a fair mix of either Border Collie or Shetland Sheepdog- greeted their owner happily. She gave each a well-warranted pat on the head before moving on to the next, and when she had gotten to the last one, wondered why the barking hadn't even begun to subside. The dogs, as loyal as they were, should have been busying themselves with their snouts in their bowls of kibble. _

_ Turning her eyes over the vast and slightly overgrown acreage, she noted what the other dogs had been so excited over: one of them had escaped. _

_ "Shania!" Ashley shouted out, striding after the red Merle Border Collie. "Come!"_

_ The herding dog didn't obey, but did halt at the end of the grassy knoll in front of the house. She stood with one paw poised over the road, ears perked and amber eyes looking straight ahead. Ashley grumbled under her breath that the dog was acting more like some kind of Pointer breed, but when she reached the collie, saw what her pet was looking at. _

_ A young Asian man, perhaps in his mid-twenties or early thirties, stood casually on the opposite side of the narrow road next to the mailbox. His arms were obscured, tucked behind his back- hands making no move to brush the blue-black near shoulder-length hair from his lightly tanned face. He kept his head tilted and turned to one side, taking a single step up the hill he occupied. Ashley studied his appearance, thinking his clothing a little out of place, though not at all outlandish. A tight fitting pair of what looked to be faded purple jeans was coupled with a form-molding sleeveless black top made out of an unrecognizable material from the distance the two were from one another._

_ "Can I help you?" Ashley spoke, taking hold of Shania's collar to keep the dog at her side. _

_ The man didn't face her as he answered. "You may be of some service. Have you been visited by any strangers today by any chance?" His voice was smooth and unfaltering, regardless of his lack of eye contact._

_ "No. The only stranger I've seen today is you." Ashley gave the Border Collie a light tug as the dog began an uncharacteristic growl. "Are you looking for somebody?"_

_ The man chortled, tilting his chin toward the canine. "I am and I am not. Is your dog unfriendly?"_

_ "She's plenty friendly toward people she doesn't think are threatening. Do you need anything else?" The young woman's tone remained even and cool. She wanted this man to leave before she let the dog go. _

_ He shrugged, moving backward down the hill. "I suppose that I do not. It seems I have made it here first. How...interesting. Enjoy the...rest of your day." _

–

As Ashley recalled the man from the other side of the road, she realized that she never once saw the details of his face. She supposed that apart from his overall creepy overtones, he might have been handsome. Or as handsome as she could see an Asian man being. What struck her as most unusual was that there were not very many people of Asian heritage living anywhere between the country and town unless they worked at the Chinese Buffet. Even then, the young woman had been there enough times to know the employees well enough to at least recognize them. That man had not been one of them.

But what good did it do to dwell? He had gone and she hadn't seen him again. Sleep took precedence now...

..._Near the edge of the wood where the trees thinned out, a clear pool headed by an outcropping of rocky ridges and a tall waterfall nestled against the verge. The crystalline liquid crashing into the depths below sent a fine, rainbow mist over the nearby plant life, the sound echoing as far as the sturdy mountains stretching skyward beyond the forest. _

_ Within the ripples of the pond, a female form knelt partially submerged in the shallows. On her lips was a tune- gentle and eerie. Her hands trailed patternless lines in the cool liquid, rivulets moving between her fingers as she allowed her sun-streaked blond hair to dunk beneath the surface. She did not seem to care that her fine clothing of delicate coral, aquamarine, and frothy hues were completely saturated by the water. It was a matter of comfort, and there she was certainly most comfortable. _

_ From over the top of the rushing falls a wind swept down, bringing with it a flock of confetti-like flower petals. They showered onto the restless, clear blue basin, pushed outward by the force of the waterfall until they came to surround the young woman. She stood, straight and tall, hip-less as a willow stalk, cupping water between her two palms. _

_ The message was being passed, and she had the honor of sending it along only once more. Eyes which could rival a deep-green sea searched the heavens above, directed toward the South. There, the horizon had begun to turn as dark as pitch. Lifting her hands above her head, she released the water, letting it splash below her. _

_ "It is time..."_

**College Campus, Kentucky**

Erin's sharp sapphire blue eyes seemed to stare through the monitor of her laptop rather than at it. At three-thirty in the morning, she was surprised she was even vaguely alert. The school year had been murder so far. Then again, she _was_ spending a few too many nights distracted from her studies. Her grades were passable, which was all that mattered currently. She'd never been an especially exceptional student, but she really did want to do well.

Supposing she ought to get some sleep in preparation for her final exams, Erin folded the computer shut and stood away from the bite-sized dorm desk. It wouldn't do to be so groggy in the morning while trying to take the tests that would determine whether she could advance to her final year of school or not. She rubbed her eyes, moving to the small window overlooking part of the dimly lit campus parking lot.

Below the building, beneath a lone street light, three people had congregated. They huddled closely together, perhaps in quiet conversation, though with absolutely nobody else in sight it was unnecessary to be exchanging whispers. The twenty-two year old absently picked up the hair brush on the side of the desk and ran it through her chin-length dyed blue and purple streaked tresses while watching the trio outside. She had always dared to be different; non-conformity was more fun than looking like everybody else. Not to mention, the look definitely fit her personality.

A groan came from Erin's roommate who had turned over in her spot on the bottom bunk of a lofted bed set. The slight young woman quietly set down the hairbrush, peeking at the other girl hoping that she hadn't woken her up. It was surprising that the roommate hadn't awoken during Erin's giggle fits while she'd been on the computer role-playing with Ashley and Katie.

Glancing back outside, the college student noted that the three figures had gone. Completely vanished as though they had never been there in the first place. Maybe her tired state was getting the best of her.

Erin trudged toward the bed, finding enough strength to climb up onto the raised bunk, ducking her head to avoid the dangerously low ceiling. As she attempted to find a position to sleep in, she noted that the mattress was less fluffy and more lumpy. Something she had grown used to over her time spent in the dorm, but she severely missed the comfort of a real bed. She could hardly wait for the school year to end so she could take her much needed vacation at Mandi's place. There, the beds in the guest room were quite easy to sink into cozily.

_'Just one more week,' _She thought, finally feeling the effects of slumber washing over her...

..._The heat of the desert was nearly visible, rising above the sand as steamy shimmers, giving the endless expanse a blown-glass visual effect. For miles there was nothing but slopes of golden-grained hills- save for a gathering of large rocks which formed a crude cave-like structure. It was the only shelter from an unforgiving sun, though here the rays of the star fought against a darkening sky. _

_ In spite of the wicked temperatures, a lone woman, small of stature, toed the shifting sand, absorbing the warmth within it. Crouching, the vivid red and vermillion material of her chiffon-gauze clothing puddled about her, protecting fair skin from the harshness of the desert. Both hands move out from close to the woman's body, plunging into the sands palms first. It burned, yet the feeling was welcomed and did not hinder her from humming the tune of ancient hymns._

_ The air began to cool as the clouds overhead clustered above the desert hills and she pushed her hands and feet deeper into the loose terrain, willing its heat to her body. A gusty gale whirled in from the North, chilling her nearly to the bone and the sun was shunned from its duty of delivering any more warmth. Energy crackled through the desert; the promise of torrential rainfall loomed closer. _

_ With defiance, the figure leaped into a standing position and glowered skyward as the drops released from the clouds. Her orange eyes narrowed as the wind whipped her hair about her face, ears catching the whispers escaping over the expanse. _

_ "Not this time..." came her infallible reply, lips curving into an almost leering smile. "...this time you won't win."_

_

* * *

_

_**1*In Chinese Mythology, the Western direction belongs to that of the Metal Element. In this adaptation, West has been correlated with the Earth Element.**_


	4. Chapter: Three Speculation

**Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not my work. All characters belong to the lovely and talented Kazuya Minekura. All original characters belong to...themselves. :) I'm making no profit in writing this fanfiction except for the pleasure of doing so. **

**A/N: _I try very hard not to create Mary Sue-like characters. I rather despise such OC's, so you won't find them in my story. OC's are kept as realistic as I possibly can make them. If you are a reader from the original story and already know who the originals are modeled after, I would appreciate it if you'd let the new guys figure it out on their own ;) Constructive reviews are well-received. Flamers will more or less be ignored. All I can say is please, read more than just a few chapters before making a full-fledged opinion. Thanks!_**

**Chapter Three: Speculation**

_**Tenkai, Present Day**_

The Merciful Goddess gazed down upon the wondrous land of Togenkyou from upon a solitary throne. Five centuries prior, the Lower World was chaotic and barren; mortal lives met Death and Doom by the hundreds each day. The loss of the embodied Elements had ruined the delicate balance of nature and Life itself. Two hundred years passed before any semblance of peace was restored.

The lush forests, emerald hillsides, sparkling waters, and proud mountains overlooked towns scattered across the lands. Even the hot deserts found some smattering of mortal occupation, their hamlets hidden by sandy valleys or nestled into rocky cliffs. It was the natural order of things, how it always should have been- but only because Kanzeon had to pull a few strings, forcefully, to achieve it. Well, to come _close_ to achieving it, anyway. There were still missing pieces to the proverbial puzzle, though the immortal had been on _that_ quest for a very long time.

If only all balances had remained intact.

If only her plans could have followed through without mishap.

There were always setbacks which sent Kanzeon's building blocks tumbling to the floor all over again. At times, the hermaphroditic deity felt like a frustrated toddler, ready to scream until she was red in the face and pound her fists on the ground just for theatrics. However close the raven-haired Bodhisattva had gotten, _ something would happen._

And that 'something' never failed to foil the path she had so clearly forged.

Free will, while a fantastic concept in general, could be such a drag. Kanzeon was disallowed to intercept when something happened due to somebody's own, conscious doing.

Death, misery, ill-will, depression, and bad luck had set themselves up as the goddess' personal banes.

Three hundred years after a near-complete restoration to the equilibrium of this Shangri'la, trouble had weaseled its way in again.

The equality between humans and youkai had turned corrupt. An unnatural conjuring of black youkai magic and scientific experiments had birthed somewhere in the West, spreading dark seeded misdeeds toward the East. The plague known as The Minus Wave afflicted only those of demonic descent, driving their kind into blood-thirsty killing machines. They were mad beyond reason. None could talk them down from the one-sided war they had begun.

Settlements which had once lived in harmony with the mixed races became the brewing pot of mass murders and daily attacks on humans. The danger of simply traveling from one town to the next uneventfully had increased ten-fold as the youkai began to stake out the routes to quench their need to kill.

Humans, not understanding the reasons behind the change in behavior, began to fear every youkai in sight. Even those who had not lost their minds to the Minus Wave were beaten, tortured, and slaughtered by those who once called themselves friends.

While the peril grew, the real war had yet to ensue. News of the great demon king known as Gyumaoh spread like wildfire through the youkai population of India. Imprisoned for centuries before by a powerful immortal child, Gyumaoh was thought to be 'taken care of'.

It seemed that the mortals had grossly underestimated the capabilities of intelligent and vengeful minds.

By mysterious circumstances, the self-named mistress of the Bull Demon had found help in reanimating the imprisoned Kougaiji, Prince and son of Gyumaoh. With the found prowess of a man who remained shrouded to even Kanzeon, the Jade Princess Gyokumen Koushu began a process to free the demon king.

The Merciful Goddess risked everything by forcing together the lives of those who must fight to stop the rise of wickedness. In Tenkai it would appear as though the banished souls had been long forgotten, something that had worked to Kanzeon's advantage. She was closer now than ever before in bringing together the Eight.

In appointing the infamous Sanzo party – a miscreant group led by the unorthodox high priest Genjyo Sanzo, Kanzeon was halfway there. The four young men had nothing, yet everything in common with one another. Their given task was to retrieve the sutras stolen by Lady Koushu before Gyumaoh could be resurrected, and they had followed orders, however begrudgingly. While this mission could have easily been completed by Kanzeon herself, the Goddess recognized the absolute necessity in the quartet to grow stronger together. They had to redefine themselves individually, and as a team. It was the only way they could all survive.

Nevertheless, problems were constantly popping up.

Another, more powerful force, had risen in the Lower World.

A demi-god named Homura, the Jade Emperor's very own nephew, had taken it upon himself to hunt down the traveling monk and his companions. With the aid of two subordinates- the hot tempered Zenon, and uncannily mellow Shien- Homura dared to challenge the travelers and hinder their progress.

The trio sought after the scriptures of Heaven and Earth, though for what intents and purposes Kanzeon didn't completely know. Knowing the tormented pasts of the three, however, gave cause for the goddess to believe there was nothing but ill-will fueling Homura along. If he and his minions were able to get their hands on the scriptures, they would hold unimaginable power.

It'd be enough to destroy absolutely everything, and that would qualify as more than just a 'setback' for Kanzeon and her own ongoing side-project.

The matter was beyond Kanzeon's reckoning.

It was somewhere her long arm could not reach, as Homura was outside of her jurisdiction. On technical grounds, Kanzeon wasn't even supposed to meddle in mortal affairs, but when the occasion called for it, she was always willing to bend a few rules. Hell, she would even break a couple so long as everything panned out for the better in the end. The half-god and his dynamic duo, all of whom hung between mortality and immortality, could not be touched by the Bodhisattva.

They were untouchable by anybody remaining in Tenkai, and it was the damned Jade Emperor who shouldered the blame for that oversight. Because nobody could pinpoint whatever Homura was dealing in he would remain free to do as he pleased. Unless Sanzo and his band of misfits could stop him, anyway.

Kanzeon could only watch. She noted that there had to be something else up Homura's sleeve, at least there had been lately, as he started bothering Sanzo less and less. Over time, the goddess tracked the demi-god's movement as somewhat erratic. He had moved all over the map in Togenkyou, almost urgently so, and the bejeweled deity wondered what had him so frantic.

The absence hadn't gone unnoticed from the journeying young men, either. They had taken some reprieve from being left alone, yet their suspicions only managed to increase the longer that Homura took between 'visits'. It put them on edge, always waiting for the next face-off, bargaining on whether or not they would come out alive like they had done the last few times.

Homura had been quiet for far too long, and Kanzeon recognized it as her opportunity to take the initiative for her next step.

As the shadow of threat hung tense over Shangri'la, the Merciful Goddess was compelled to act. If she did not, her only chance at success may have been lost indefinitely. Her boys needed back-up, though she was certain they were not going to appreciate the gesture.

Especially not since she was sending them on a little side-mission to play fetch for a while. In the very least, it would keep them out of Homura's war-path should he try to strike again- at least for a while.

The goddess uncrossed her long legs then recrossed them, lifting her chin from her palm. Those who remained sleeping had been safely stowed away for a rainy day. They were indeed alive, and the rain had recently fallen, bringing Sanzo and company to a place they never could have imagined seeing.

Kanzeon couldn't help but smirk. She always did like to toss in a few surprises here and there, though this had to be the ultimate as far as her pranks went. Though it had been no prank, and she had given her boys the appropriate accommodations for their brand new environment. The rest would be up to them, not counting the friendly reminder she dropped into the heads of those the Sanzo party would eventually come across.

The incarnations were still incomplete, after all. They needed a push in the right direction. A shove, even. But Kanzeon had spent plenty of her energy, and Jiroushin's at that, in the feat of crossing the bridge between two realms and persuading Sanzo and company to pass it as well. With some luck, it would not take _too_ long for the other half to awaken their full potential- to reunite them with what was rightfully theirs.

At least, she hoped it wouldn't.


	5. Chapter Four:  Scientist

**Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not my work. All characters belong to the lovely and talented Kazuya Minekura. All original characters belong to...themselves. :) I'm making no profit in writing this fanfiction except for the pleasure of doing so. **

**A/N: _I try very hard not to create Mary Sue-like characters. I rather despise such OC's, so you won't find them in my story. OC's are kept as realistic as I possibly can make them. If you are a reader from the original story and already know who the originals are modeled after, I would appreciate it if you'd let the new guys figure it out on their own ;) Constructive reviews are well-received. Flamers will more or less be ignored. All I can say is please, read more than just a few chapters before making a full-fledged opinion. Thanks!_**

**Chapter Four: Scientist**

_**Houtou Castle, India – Present Day**_

The prolific figure of Lady Koushu sat erect in a chair with a narrow and tall back and padded seat. It served as her temporary station of power and royalty – though the latter had yet to be recognized. As the alleged mistress to the Bull Demon King Gyumaoh, there was at least a small handful of "subjects" who dared to disagree with the claimed position. They kept it to themselves, however, for the Jade Princess would not hesitate to cut down anyone who she thought posed a real threat.

The chamber in which the demoness occupied spread in a broad rectangular surface, sparse of any real decoration. Behind the raised platform, upon which the throne was situated, an impressive contraption of wires, cables, and mechanical gadgets towered into a metal sarcophagus. Despite the lack of ornament within the room, the most valuable thing in the entire castle lay resting inside of the tomb. It whirred and hissed every few moments, the sound of iron breathing- of machines keeping the life inside alive while it slept in ignorance of the events on the outside. It was a noise most had become accustomed to tuning out, for listening to it and being reminded of the terror within could drive a skittish person mad with fear.

Who lay inside remained dormant, but was not without pending threat.

Gyumaoh, the tyrant who had wreaked havoc on all of Shangri'la in trying to overthrow the population of humans in a demonic uprising, rested snug as a bug in a rug in his magical tomb. The seal had been concocted of holy abilities- a power that only a god could wield.

Or a worldly high priest holding all five of the Tenchi Kaigan Kyouman. Scriptures of Heaven and Earth, all brought together, would wield the power enough to free Gyumaoh of his enchanted prison and allow him to have full run of anything he so pleased.

While the entire royal demon family had been cast in suspended animation, Gyokumen Koushu managed to bring together a team of scientists who had been able to forge the essence of youkai magic and science to create the Minus Wave. It was forced upon the youkai of the immediate land, turning the weaker minded into her slaves ready to do her bidding. The same taboo mixture had freed the son of Gyumaoh, as well as begetting Koushu the bastard child between herself and the Bull Demon.

Among the scientific team there was one especially who was proving his worth. The only human within Houtou Castle's walls, Dr. Nii Jienyi had proven himself to be nearly in-expendable. Far from the ordinary-minded humans sprawling over the lands of Shangri'la, the biological engineer had shown a great knowledge in several fields and promised Gyukomen Koushu that his research and innovative contraptions would bring about Gyumaoh's revival.

Of course, this still required the five sutras, but they had already obtained two of them.

Koushu only wished that retrieving the other three wouldn't take so dreadfully long. She was a person of such a low capacity for patience, it was a wonder that Nii had managed to quell her anxiousness in moving the revival along.

Reclining in the wide berth of the throne meant for containing Gyumaoh's large frame, the Jade Princess offered her fingers to a waiting maidservant kneeling to one side of the royal perch. With some scrambling, the adolescent mouse of a demon girl gingerly took the milky hand and immediately set about giving a proper manicure. Koushu's unforgiving eyes bore holes into the teenager, silently threatening her to do it right the first time.

The young girl nodded wordlessly, casting her own gaze to her work. She knew what happened when the woman was not fully satisfied.

Content that her message had been well-received, Koushu placed her attention upon the disheveled man standing at the foot of the throne.

"Dr. Nii-" she began, drawing out his name with laced warning, " I truly hope for your sake that you have come closer to finding the sutras. My patience is wearing quite thin."

The doctor, unkempt in his dress of a white lab coat bearing questionable stains over an unturned yellow shirt, loose tie, wrinkled pants and bunny slippers- smiled serenely. He took pride in his services to the youkai mistress. Being the only human in the castle certainly had its perks, and Nii was far from worried about any consequences for taking his time. Koushu had never been one to turn down a rendezvous with the scientist, and she wasn't likely to dispose of the only person who actually knew how to get what she needed.

Black eyes peered through thick rimmed and smudged lenses where a double-reflection shone of the cool woman sitting before him. His smile regressed into a smirk and, clutching a white plush rabbit doll in the crook of one arm, he held up a stack of papers in his free hand.

"My dear Lady Koushu- would I come to you if there was such a...lack of progress?" His voice held such a lilting tenor, one might think of him as perpetually sarcastic.

Koushu raised an eyebrow, sliding her gaze to the maid who had mistakenly filed skin and not nail. The girl caught the dangerous expression, rectifying her blunder quickly. The demoness then returned her harsh stare to the doctor.

"Then please me. What news is there?"

Dr. Nii bowed his head of oil-slicked hair the color of pitch. "I do like to please you, my...lady. We are doing the best we can. As you know, Professor Wang is struggling in his...research. Dr. Huang is...a little less than useful lately. I suppose ones time of month can become draining, hmm? However, I hardly find it excusable to slack." This was followed by a light chuckle and a hint of a smile from Koushu. Nii continued.

"I'm afraid I am doing more than my fair share of the work load lately."

Sneering, Koushu leaned forward- much to her maid's chagrin. "Yes, yes, _poor_ Dr. Huang. I'm well aware of her incompetence lately, Nii. Just tell me what you've found. I'll deal with her later."

Giving his papers a shake, Nii displayed a set of graphs and charts with scientific jargon slathered all over in his near unintelligible scrawl.

It held no meaning to the youkai woman. She held back a snarl, her lip curling in disdain. It was customary of Nii to play games with her first, but at times it was rather tiresome.

"What is that? What does it mean?"

"This...is something that has found its way into my hands ..all by..itself. Energy readings of considerable proportions...hm. Much more so than that of which we seek."

Settling back into her chair, oblivious to how much her movements was making work difficult for the servant girl, Koushu eyed the doctor warily.

"What kind of energy?"

The engineer grinned cattily. "A living energy...isn't that right?" Coal eyes shifted to the plush toy in his other hand. Raising the rabbit, Nii pitched his voice an octave higher and manipulated the doll, speaking through it.

"An energy harnessed by science and you-kai black mag-ic...we would no longer need silly sutras. We could rival the gods them-selves."

Interested in spite of her irritation at the use of the doll, Koushu drew her hand up and dismissed the teenage maidservant. Grateful for the time being, the girl scampered away, disappearing into the shadows of the large chamber.

"Put down the damn doll Nii, and tell me what you know."

Unbeknownst to Lady Koushu and Dr. Nii, a spy lingered just outside of the throne room, hanging about near the highly arched doorway.

He had become accustomed to eavesdropping lately, as it seemed being the son of Gyumaoh earned him hardly any respect. While servants of the castle still bowed and did his bidding, Kougaiji found himself fetching and errand-running for his father's mistress more often than any of the other youkai within the stone walls. He supposed that were he not the product of Gyumaoh's legitimate mate and wife, Rasetsunyo, Koushu may regard him with more esteem. It was no secret that she was jealous of the Bull Demon's wife. As the favored concubine, the Jade Princess took it upon herself to flaunt the position in which she placed herself. She never let the prince forget who was in charge, and who could ensure the freedom of Rasetsunyo from her petrified imprisonment.

Straining a pointed ear to the door, the red-headed prince dug his sharp claws into the flesh of his palms. His "step-mother" merely saw him as a puppet. So long as she had the potential means to free his mother, he would grudgingly do Koushu's dirty work, even if he wasn't happy doing it.

How much longer would he have to wait, though, for that day when he could see his mother's gentle face free of rock and made of soft flesh again? When would she smile at him warmly and welcome him into a maternal embrace? Rasetsunyo awaited her escape, arms eternally outstretched in horror while Koushu and Nii played their war games, wasting precious time.

"Bitch." He spat to the air, gritting his teeth.

The prince stewed in his seething resentment for the demoness currently feigning _any_ right to occupy a throne- let alone his father's. Even if Kougaiji harbored very few positive emotions for his father, he would rather see Gyumaoh and his own mother reigning over Houtou than the snake-like witch there now.

For weeks, the laboratory in the lower levels had been under heavy guard. Kougaiji had been denied entry more than once, arousing his suspicions that there was some secret plan afoot. The scientists inside were strangely hushed, save for the occasional cackle from Professor Wang.

Kougaiji imagined that Nii was disclosing the information of whatever they had been keeping secret to Koushu at that moment. He desperately needed to know if his consent to do Koushu's will in return for his mother's freedom was in danger of nullification.

Pressing closer yet to the door, the prince caught wind of the voices inside and listened as well as he could...

..._"We are uncertain as to __**what**__ the power belongs to, my Lady, however..." Nii paused a moment for effect. "An energy this pure could only mean this being is perhaps one of a ...higher existence."_

_ "Do you mean a god?" Koushu goaded._

_ "I may mean that. Or perhaps something more...formidable."_

_ Here, the sound muffled until the Jade Princess laughed ruefully. _

_ "Could we bend such a being to our will?"_

_ "That may be a ...foolish endeavor. If the creature is an ancient one, it will have us serve it...unless..."_

_ "...what is it?"_

_ "Unless there was something of value we had that it needed. Some...favor we could grant it."_

_ "Intriguing." Koushu replied slyly. "And what sort of favor could we give something so celestial? Though, I'm sure if this __**thing**__ resembles anything human, you could assist it, couldn't you, Nii?"_

_ "But my dear Lady, those favors only belong to you..."_

...Kougaiji grimaced, drawing away from the door. He did not want to hear the rest of the lewd discrepancies that were about to follow the partially informative conversation. It was bad enough that Koushu had the audacity to declare herself acting head of the castle with total disregard to the prince's bloodline- but she was having relations with the filthy scientist on top of it. He wasn't about to listen to it happening, too.

"Onii-chan, I found you!" A screeching, girlish voice rang through the otherwise empty corridor.

Turning sharply, Kougaiji faced the short, busty figure of his half-sister. He mentally hoped that Koushu hadn't heard her loud mouth of a daughter and fixated his lilac gaze to the copper haired girl.

"Lirin, you're supposed to be with Yaone." He scolded her, though not very harshly.

The rambunctious teen smiled toothily. "I got hungry and Yaone's cooking, but I tried to sneak some food so she made me leave. She told me to go play so here I am!"

A smile attempted to belie the ferocity of Kougaiji's handsomely tanned face.

One would never know that the young demon girl was of any relation to Lady Koushu- they were nothing alike. The prince could only assume such vivacity had been paternally inherited. In some cases, he found his sister's behavior a parallel to one of his 'enemies', but being Lirin, she had a tendency to be seen as endearing rather than annoying.

With a relenting sigh, Kougaiji gestured down the hall.

"Go and find Dokugakuji," he instructed, naming his loyal guard, companion, and best friend. "I have something I need to think upon. We'll play after dinner."

Disappointed, Lirin turned, muttering that her brother wasn't very much fun lately. The older of the siblings watched until his sister had turned the corner toward Dokugakuji's quarters before heading in the opposite direction.

His mind was heavy, bearing the weight of what the overheard conversation between Nii and Koushu could mean.

If Nii had found something stronger than the sutras that could be found with less difficulty, then there was no guarantee of Rasetsunyo's freedom. The prince decided that he had no other choice than to seek out whatever this power was, so that he may use it to his advantage.

All he needed now was to find out where to look.


	6. Chapter Five: Arrivals

**Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not my work. All characters belong to the lovely and talented Kazuya Minekura. All original characters belong to...themselves. :) I'm making no profit in writing this fanfiction except for the pleasure of doing so. **

**A/N: _I try very hard not to create Mary Sue-like characters. I rather despise such OC's, so you won't find them in my story. OC's are kept as realistic as I possibly can make them. If you are a reader from the original story and already know who the originals are modeled after, I would appreciate it if you'd let the new guys figure it out on their own ;) Constructive reviews are well-received. Flamers will more or less be ignored. All I can say is please, read more than just a few chapters before making a full-fledged opinion. Thanks!_**

**Chapter Five: The Far West**

_**Chicago Suburbs, Present Day**_

The sunlight filtering in between moss-green blinds cast prismatic shadows across an eggshell ceiling. Anime posters sat in a solemn half-light; large, brightly colored eyes appeared to watch over the young woman sleeping in the midst of them. It would be another hour before that light would touch her eyelids and the song of birds would permeate the dense fog of sleep. In the end, neither would give cause for her to awaken. A faint whisper, however, feathering in her mind would rouse her.

_"...it is time."_

Mandi jerked awake so quickly that she startled herself, sitting up in a suspicious alertness for someone having just woken up. She looked about the room.

Somebody had spoken, she was certain of it- but who?

Observing that she remained the only person in the room she came to the next question: Never mind who, but where?

The voice, however quiet it had been, was quite clear and vaguely familiar. The dark-haired girl expected to see somebody standing at the foot of her bed. Nerves on edge, Mandi got out of bed and inched her way to the bi-folding door hiding the hallway beyond it.

"Hello?" She called, her voice still thick from sleep.

When there came no reply, she pulled the door open and found...absolutely nothing and nobody.

Exhaling loudly, the twenty-two year old placed a palm over her thumping chest. She had gotten worked up over what had likely just been a vivid dream.

Sometimes being alone frayed her peace of mind; every little creak or groan in the house sent her into an unwarranted panic. Every unfamiliar sound outside had her frozen in place, wondering what unspoken horrors might be trying to get inside.

Naturally, nothing ever happened. It still _could_, and Mandi supposed that invisible threat would remain present for as long as she lived alone. Having her friends over for a couple of weeks would work out nicely in that case. She could have some time without living with the fear of something going wrong when there was nothing to fear to begin with.

Safety in numbers. There would always be someone around to keep her paranoia at bay. Well, for fourteen days anyhow.

Turning from the door, she guessed it was the dream which had awoken her and allowed her chocolate eyes to fall to the stuffed faces peeking past the messy folds of blanket on the bed.

"You aren't doing your job. Stuffed animals are supposed to help bad dreams stay away."

The toys stared back blankly.

"Tch...you're useless...and here I go talking to things that won't answer. I'm going crazy, seriously."

Rolling her eyes, Mandi contemplated trying to go back to sleep. Normally, she could sleep in for as long as possible on her days off. Her body's biorhythm told her that the hour was still quite early.

Crossing the thickly padded green carpet, Mandi picked up her glasses from the computer desk and put them on. Glancing at the clock on the five-disc changer stereo, she saw it was only twenty minutes past eight.

"What. The. Hell." It was an ungodly hour for her, but she quickly reminded herself of how soon she'd gone to bed the night before. In that perspective, she guessed being awake wasn't so unreasonable.

It also gave her plenty of time to finish getting the two-story house in order before Ashley and Katie were due to arrive. There was shopping to do, as well as making sure the house didn't look like a bomb had just hit it. While she had plenty of free time, Mandi seemed to always forget about making sure she cleaned up after herself. Her artwork, writing, and role-playing online seemed to push out the thoughts of keeping house until something told her it might be time to do some purging.

Forgetting completely of the mild scare she'd just suffered, Mandi switched on the radio and got to work.

**Small Town, Ohio**

"_...the time has come."_

Katie awoke with a start, blue-gray eyes frantically darting side to side. Somebody had just spoken to her, waking her from a deep slumber.

Confused, she slowly sat up and called out toward her bedroom door.

"Was that you mom?"

When no answer greeted her, the twenty-four year old hoisted her fatigued body from the bed and looked out into the hallway.

Nobody.

Except for a Grey and white tabby cat who stared expectantly up at her owner with intensity.

"Huh, well unless you've learned how to speak English, I don't think it was you, Tig."

The feline meowed, ducking into the small room and made herself comfortable on the folding chair placed in front of the computer. Katie chuckled, patting Tig on the head then giving her a scritch under the chin before sitting on the edge of her bed.

Maybe she had imagined the voice. Maybe it was the small, rotary fan sitting on the dresser. The whirring sound coupled with a particularly lively dream might have created the illusion of somebody speaking to her.

Nevertheless, speculating wasn't changing how tired she felt. The digital clock read twenty past nine and groaning, Katie flopped onto her back, nestling into her pillow. After only a few hours of sleep, the last thing she'd wanted was to be awake before noon.

The young woman rested for a few more minutes before the alarm suddenly emitted a loud, annoying buzz.

Bolting upright again, Katie slapped a palm onto the device to silence it. "Shut the hell up, I'm awake." She grumbled, forgetting that she'd set it the day before.

Sleep was no longer an option. She had things to do before Ashley would be around to pick her up. With that in mind, Katie's fatigue began to seep away, leaving a void soon replaced by excitement. Having something to look forward to was energizing- especially when that 'something' would take Katie away from this place for a while.

The adage "Home is where the heart is" never held more truth for the young woman. The old house may have been where she had spent most of her life, but Katie never felt comfortable or fully settled there.

Too much negativity was trapped within the walls; too many bad memories better left forgotten. Her only escapes had been by having people over, or going to visit friends for as long as possible. Befriending her pets just for decent company while her older brother was spoiled and catered to had been her only other way 'out'.

For a long while, she wanted to leave but never had the means. Given the chance, she would pack up, take her cat and her two horses, and just leave. Visiting Mandi in another state for two weeks would be the closest thing to it that she'd gotten so far. The thought itself was almost exhilarating, but the idea of leaving her animals behind slightly disheartened her.

Katie couldn't exactly place full trust in her parents to care for the animals properly. Her mother was a tad more than forgetful, and her dad...suffice it to say, he moonlighted as runner-up for number one jackass.

Nevertheless, she had to have _some_ faith that all would go well- or well enough- in her absence. Otherwise, she'd never leave the house for anything.

Gathering fresh clothes, the young woman headed for the small, carpeted bathroom just to the left of her bedroom. She was falling behind in her attempt to get ready for her trip. Ashley would be a bit irked if she arrived and Katie was not yet ready to leave.

With a sigh, she drew the curtain -which was there in lieu of an actual door due to her father's incompetency to the idea of proper privacy – and retired to a refreshing shower.

**Rural Ohio**

The rain had fallen all night, but the foggy remnants faded by sunrise leaving only misty droplets on the farmhouse windows as evidence. The sky, now cloudless, shone with the sun over the wide overgrowth of acreage as once resting animals moved to varying states of alertness.

They normally would have roused with dawn's first light, but were only just opening their eyes as though a spell had been broken.

From across the slightly hilly fields, a breeze carrying a whisper rushed toward the house. Infiltrating the open window of a bedroom on the second floor, it dropped its words.

_"The time is near..."_

Riveted by an unprecedented jolt of energy, Ashley stirred and sat up. Rubbing her eyes free of blurriness, she sought the source of the disembodied voice. Of course, being disembodied generally meant it was some sort of specter or supernatural phenom. Since Ashley's mind led a rather skeptical path, she felt a bit foolish for being tricked into waking up.

Rethinking it, she supposed her older sister, Dawn, was the source, nagging Ashley to wake up. While Ashley's sister didn't live in the family house any longer, she made damn sure to come by often enough and ensure that her younger sister's life was never 'nag-free'.

"Whatever you want Dawn, you're not getting it now." The twenty-one year old grunted, noting the time. It was only just after nine in the morning- certainly too early, though the girl supposed she could get a jump start on preparing for the trip out to Illinois.

While Ashley had already packed her belongings, she still had morning chores to get out of the way. Her mother had already expressed a resentment at being left to do everything for two weeks. Ashley supposed she would at least escape some maternal wrath and not skip out on feeding all of the animals before she left the state.

Crawling over the two dogs and a calico cat named Daria, whom all found it necessary to occupy the bed, the twenty-one year old clambered to the floor and found her footing. Noticing that Dawn had yet to reply, and finding this unusual, Ashley poked her head around past the door jamb. Across the way there was a set of bunk beds resting near a windowed wall, parallel to an old armoire. Both pieces of furniture were bursting with a random assortment of nick-knacks, dolls, and miscellaneous items that had come into the family's possession over the years. It was evidence enough that Dawn had been about at some point that morning, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Shooting her eyes toward the sharp decline of a precarious stairway, Ashley only found more piles of 'stuff' littering the steps in a haphazard manner.

"I swear she's out to kill me as indirectly as possible." The girl snorted before retreating into her room and moved on to rooting around to find clean clothes to wear that weren't already stuffed into a bag.

Finding a pair of jeans and a graphic T-Shirt beneath the snoozing dogs, she quickly changed. Going back to bed was pointless now. Despite her short rest, Ashley's senses were alert enough to avoid drawing out an extra hour or so under the covers. Nevertheless, she would invest in some source of strong caffeine while on the road. Just in case she needed a pick-me-up in the middle of the drive.

Commanding the dogs to follow – they who obediently snapped awake as though they had never been lazing about at all- Ashley led them to the first floor, through the cluttered kitchen, and on outside. The temperate weather had her hoping for a drive without any follow-up storms mimicking the one from last night. While she actually enjoyed making long trips, and driving in general, Ashley was not so fond of doing so in poor weather conditions.

The Sheltie and Border Collie ran free, barking up a storm to get the other dogs riled as their owner made her rounds to each of the pens. A niggling tickled the back of her mind as she followed routine, pausing several times trying to determine what it was she felt she was forgetting. Coming up empty every time she pondered it, Ashley dismissed the feeling and completed her tedious tasks within the hour. Whatever she was forgetting would surely surface before leaving the house if it was _that_ important.

An ardor for departing bubbled from within as she returned indoors. She smiled as the effect- something her closest friends could contest to being a rare sight. Nobody was home to see it, or to bother her for any last minute distractions that would hinder her from leaving on time.

Her smile manifested itself into a confused frown as another thought sparked. Who had woken her up that morning, then? Had she really been that out of it not to bother thinking about it until this moment?

Maybe it had been a dream, though the country-bred woman could hardly recall what that dream had been. Not that it was anything new. Ashley spent many nights lacking the company of dreamscapes. Anything she ever remembered normally presented itself as a nightmare. Even then, the details were too easily forgotten.

"Hm." She grunted, shrugging her shoulders before calling the two freely roaming dogs back inside with her so she could feed them.

Worrying about having everything she needed for the trip was more important than obsessing over the reason for waking up. She was going to have to do that sometime that morning, so what did it matter? Keeping her mind on the task of gathering her things to pack in the truck, Ashley felt the appeal of this getaway growing. Mandi had mentioned that they would have to go into the city to check out Navy Pier, or take a boat tour of Lake Michigan. Perhaps an excursion to China Town could be fit in along the way, too.

Ashley had to concede that it all sounded much better than the short-lived field trip her eighth grade class had made to one of the museums in Chicago. The students didn't have any time to explore or take in the city because the travel time was so long. This time there would be no teachers, and no limitations to sight-seeing a place as grand as the Windy City.

Grabbing a packet of Pop-Tarts, Ashley headed up the stairs. She had yet to get online and print up the directions for Mandi's place. It was a good thing she had forgone an extra hour of sleep, since the country dial-up connection was slower than a snail with a limp on most days. Then, she guessed, she would make a fast job of tidying up her bedroom, write a note to her parents on how to make sure the dogs were cared for, then head into town to pick up Katie.

It wouldn't be much longer before they were free...for a while, anyway.

**College Town, Kentucky**

Erin gazed out of her dorm-room window while absently chewing on the end of a ballpoint pen. She had just finished the first of her final exams, but was less than relieved for it. The entire period her mind wandered, and she had been unable to keep complete focus on her test paper. Now, she kept wishing that she could have paid a bit more attention to the test. Failing any of them was not an option, or she would really be in serious trouble. Academic probation was the last thing she wanted to explain to her parent- most of either, her dad.

The student's parents had divorced some years ago, but remained in generally good terms. Regardless of her dad being the one to help her with college finances, there was no way that she could tell one parent without hiding it from the other.

Exhaling slowly, the slender young woman resigned to sitting on the edge of her bed, trying to figure out what had caused her mind to wander. Maybe it was just stress, though Erin had been certain she knew the material. She had actually spent as much time as she could studying, and less partying or hanging out with her college buddies.

Maybe how she had woken up that morning was the cause. She had jumped out of a deep sleep into a disoriented state. Her body had been drenched in a cold sweat, heart beating as though she had just run a marathon. If it had been a nightmare that convinced her brain to wake her up, Erin wondered why she couldn't remember a single thing from it. Nightmares were always especially vivid.

It could have been anxiety, she guessed. Such a thing rarely ever made sense, and this was a fact she had come to terms with. It was something she walked hand-in-hand with for most of her life. Trying to fit in, to find acceptance among her peers had put a lot of pressure on Erin while growing up. Worse yet, the kids she tried to befriend treated her cruelly for no other reason than finding some mean-spirited enjoyment in it.

"...twerps." Erin muttered about the memories she didn't intend on bringing about. Her blue eyes seemed to stare through the white-washed cinder block wall opposite of the bed. Random visions of what Erin had dreamed made attempts to reveal themselves, but to no avail.

Every time it seemed that an image would fully form, it would vanish. All that remained was a lingering sense of urgency, as though she had something she needed to do.

Glancing to the clock, the young woman cursed loudly and leapt to her feet. Her next test started in fifteen minutes and she desperately needed a cigarette to calm her nerves.

Rushing into the hall and down two flights of metal and concrete, Erin pushed her way outside, hands fumbling for what she affectionately called a 'smoogie'.

Lighting up, she took a soothing drag and let the nicotine wash over her system. The jumbled mess in her mind began to sort itself out with each release of a gray puff from Erin's lips. Leaning against the brick wall of the dormitories, the twenty-two year old student stretched out the cigarette for as long as she dared. Just a few more days of testing and she would be free to head home. She'd make a pit stop to visit each of her parents before meeting up with her three friends. It never hurt to do a bit of preemptive ass-kissing while the results of her exams were still in question.

Tossing down the butt of her cigarette, Erin crushed it beneath a chunky boot heel and checked the time on her cell phone. It was about that time to face the next demon of a test.

Suddenly, she wished she had time for one more smoogie as she stalked off toward her class.


	7. Chapter Six: The Task

**Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not my work. All characters belong to the lovely and talented Kazuya Minekura. All original characters belong to...themselves. :) I'm making no profit in writing this fanfiction except for the pleasure of doing so.**

**A/N: _I try very hard not to create Mary Sue-like characters. I rather despise such OC's, so you won't find them in my story. OC's are kept as realistic as I possibly can make them. If you are a reader from the original story and already know who the originals are modeled after, I would appreciate it if you'd let the new guys figure it out on their own ;) Constructive reviews are well-received. Flamers will more or less be ignored. All I can say is please, read more than just a few chapters before making a full-fledged opinion. Thanks!_**

**Chapter Six: The Task**

_Tenkai, Present Day_

Kanzeon Bosatsu held her gaze on the watching-pool long after the images from another world had faded. She usually perused the goings-on of Shangri'la in this fashion- particularly those concerning a certain quartet of unruly young men. However, this time the deity had hoped to get a pressing message across to four women located in another realm.

Averting indigo orbs from the clear water, Kanzeon resisted an urge to yank at her long, raven hair. She had just witnessed each twenty-something year old girl awaken from the most telling visions they would ever experience while sleeping and simply shrug them off as nothing. Just how dense were they?

While it pleased the Bodhisattva that the dreams had managed to infiltrate the land of Nod well enough, from a completely different world no less, she had also hoped that it would cause a bigger splash. Instead, the meaning seemed to crash-land into oblivion. The girls did not even appear to recall what they had seen behind their closed eyelids.

The Elemental Four, the _Si Yaosu_, could not fully awaken unless the hosts became aware of who they really were. The potential they bottled inside was filling up to the brim, and all they needed was the screw to pop the cork and let it all loose.

Their location didn't make matters any better. When the souls were split from their Elemental selves, they became destined to live hardship after hardship. The strange thing about souls was that they suddenly became impervious to what realms they crossed. Kanzeon spent a long while sifting through the traces of each soul's remnant trails before she managed to pinpoint the hosts all together again in a place called The United States. In a world totally separate from the one in which Shangri'la existed.

This place had a history of magic, but it had long since evaporated into the humdrum of industrialism and technology. The magic still existed, but on such a miniscule scale that nobody thought much of it- and those who did were considered a touch silly.

Kanzeon spent much of her time following the time-line of the other world, watching the girls grow up into young women, amazed at how they found one another without any outside help. While time in her own realm moved at a different pace, years passed by quickly in the other and the time came when the young women delved into a fandom for what they believed was a fictional story. The history of The Journey to the West had come to pass in that realm in a different matter, as things tended to do concerning parallel universes. The goddess found it more than entertaining, however, when the four began to play games which involved alter egos becoming involved in the land of Shangri'la.

When the Bodhisattva urged her looking-pool to fast forward in time, as she could sometimes manipulate it into doing, she became disappointed in learning the fate of the world in which the girls lived. It was more corrupt than Kanzeon first pictured. The events were near Apocalyptic. The population would fall to their own man-made devices, consumed in pollution, wrought with murder and chaos. The unbreathable air would suffocate all living creatures as water turned to sludge, and the earth would dry up, crumble, and burn.

It was all too reminiscent of the events that had once befallen this world centuries before. While all had been rebuilt, it took an extreme effort. The other world would not have the same luxury, as they had shunned their gods long ago. While most dismissed the idea of the gods in Shangri'la, the disastrous events had happened before that ever began to happen.

Kanzeon had to bring those souls back home before they were lost forever. The clarity of how much they were needed had never been so crucial before.

The supposed utopia of the Lower World was in danger of falling to such a calamity once more. The Minus Wave affecting weak-minded youkai created too much fear and violence between them and their human counterparts. The balance was tilting too far in an unfavorable manner, and in various places across the stretch of land which made up Shangri'la, the elements were becoming unstable. This world would surely collapse in on itself if something could not be done, and soon.

There was a certain risk in her attempt to push along the process of awakening the _Si Yousu, _but what Kanzeon couldn't admit aloud was that she was feeling a twinge of panic. It was why she expended the energy to cross realms in order to visit at least one of the hosts.

With the fortunate stroke of luck that the girls were aware of Shangri'la, even in a fictional sense, Kanzeon had approached the first she could find. Showing herself as an enigmatic stranger with a familiarity that the young woman hadn't been able to put her finger one had at least gotten the girls to begin speculating. Of course, if Jiroushin hadn't have gotten lost passing from their world to the next, the connection may have been made much faster. Kanzeon supposed she ought not complain- the plan _had_ worked, to an extent.

The young woman caught in the rain had shared the occurrence with the other three. They laughed, yes, but they also dredged up the desire for their fantasy of plunging into that world. The _Si Yousu_ would be ready to return relatively soon, but 'soon' was a subjective term. It could mean hours, days, or weeks.

The raven-haired goddess wouldn't dare stay in a mortal world in another realm for that long. Who knew what effects it would have on her abilities? If she could not return to Tenkai, then Shangri'la would most definitely be doomed.

Instead, she turned to her band of misfits to do the deed.

Naturally, Genjyo Sanzo- a high priest of a Buddhist order with an ill temper- was none too pleased with the idea of taking an unexpected detour. He had enough of them to date and didn't understand the necessity of making one _on purpose_. It would just be a "waste of time" and why couldn't she just bring them over herself without turning it into a "drawn out project"?

Not one to believe or put much faith into the gods, despite his title, Sanzo didn't hold very much interest in helping any return to a position of power.

Kanzeon had simply rolled her eyes. The attitude of her reincarnated nephew- once known as Konzen Douji- had not really changed much in the last five hundred years. Granted, Sanzo held more wisdom and maturity, he still was such a grump.

The situation was dire, she explained. While she already knew who the hosts were, it was pertinent that all Eight be reunited in the other realm. The language barrier and all magical properties would be removed, making it far easier to communicate efficiently. There was also the matter of reconnecting. They had shared a fate once, they must reacquaint themselves with one another. A time would come when working together to save Shangri'la would depend solely on their trust in each other.

That would be hard to achieve if the girls were plopped in the middle of a land they thought they knew, where they couldn't speak the language or even begin to defend themselves. Kanzeon's power, while extensive, was not all-encompassing. She could only help them so far.

Besides, she had reassured the Sanzo party that they would not miss very much. With the alteration of time, they were likely to return to a Shangri'la only a few days older than when they left.

In spite of the protests, Kanzeon sent the group on their way. No matter what happened, they were all about to embark on one wild ride.

**Chicago Suburbs**

"So I don't mean to be annoyin' guys, but where _are_ we? Anybody figure that out yet?" The youthful voice of a chestnut haired youth piped up from the back seat of the slightly cramped Jeep.

Amber-gold eyes peered past spiky fringe and through the tinted windows as the vehicle passed by a row of store fronts.

"You're always annoying chimp." The lean twenty-two year old sharing the backseat replied. He nestled into his corner, tilting his chin toward his own window. A curtain of deep red hair blanketed the naturally tanned angles of his face. "If we knew where we were, we'd probably have stopped goin' in circles by now. Hakkai, I swear ya passed this place like ten minutes ago."

The addressed driver sighed, abruptly pressing the brakes for no good reason before accelerating again. A car behind the Jeep honked in protest before changing lanes to pass them up while flashing Hakkai a good view of his middle-finger.

"People here are certainly rude." The willowy chocolate-haired driver noted before replying to his companions. "I'm sorry Goku, Gojyo...but we weren't exactly given a map on the area."

"Or a place to sleep. My ass is numb from sitting so long, man." The redhead complained, trying to adjust his position once more.

Hakkai smiled thinly, emerald eyes glued to the road. "That seems to be a common complaint of yours, my friend. Perhaps you should have that checked out sometime."

Ignoring the snickering from the spiky haired boy across from him, Gojyo shook his head. "Whatever..." His crimson eyes settled on the blond man slumped forward in the passenger seat. He appeared to be asleep. "That's bullshit, how can he sleep at a time like this?"

"Who said I was asleep?" A gruff tone passed from the white-robed figure's lips. "I'm trying to tune out the whining, but it's hard to ignore your annoying voices."

Hakkai chuckled lightly, making a sharp right turn at the next intersection, jostling everybody to the left.

"Shit...Hakkai, are you having problems driving today, or are the roads just jumping out of the way and you're trying to catch them?"

"My apologies, Sanzo. There aren't streets like this at home. All of the signs are a bit confusing, I'm afraid, and the other vehicles around me are nerve-wracking. I'm not quite used to driving without Hakuryuu's help, either."

Frowning, Hakkai glanced at the dashboard to monitor his speed before easing up on the gas pedal. His white dragon companion usually regulated these things. With Hakuryuu's spirit lying basically dormant within the modernized machine, the appointed driver felt somewhat lost.

"Is Hakuryuu stuck like this?" Goku inquired, still watchful of the unfamiliar territory. "Can't he change back here?"

"While we're here, I'm afraid that Hakuryuu will remain as nothing but a means of transportation." Hakkai answered somewhat sadly.

Gojyo lifted his eyebrows. "As opposed to what? Isn't that what the bird does anyway? Besides eat and try to claw me to death..."

The brunette driver laughed softly then risked taking a hand off of the wheel to adjust the pair of glasses he wore. Apparently monocles were out of style in this realm, and glasses would draw less attention. He still carried it with him, however. The glasses really were not even necessary as his vision was nearly perfect. However, even the lack of magic in this world did not have any affect on the false eye wired into the right side socket. The lenses served as a means of protection more than anything else.

Absently, his fingers touched his left ear, running over the smooth skin before retracting back to the wheel before he lost control of the Jeep. The lack of three small silver ear cuffs had him on edge. They served as his power limiters- the means of keeping his youkai spirit in check. Even though Hakkai didn't feel anything within him on the verge of bursting into a ferocious rage, he couldn't help but feel nervous that there was nothing there to prevent it in the slim chance that it _could happen._

As though reading the mind of their driver, Sanzo straightened in his seat and gave him a sidelong glance before calling the spiky haired youth.

"Goku. Do you feel alright without your limiter?" The monk's voice was almost uncharacteristically soft. The last thing they needed in a foreign world was the almighty demon of Son Goku unleashed upon an unsuspecting population.

Touching his forehead where a golden diadem usually rested, Goku pondered for a minute. Gojyo turned to look at him, knowing what the answer would be. It was the same for all of them who had any youkai blood pumping through their veins.

"I dunno. I'm fine, I think. It's kinda weird, though." Goku finally replied, facing the front and leaning back. "It's almost like somethin' is missing. Like I'm weaker, maybe. Is this kinda what bein' human is like, Sanzo?"

The monk snorted indignantly. "What kind of stupid question is that? How the hell would I know? I've got nothing to compare it to."

Laughter hissed through Gojyo's teeth as he bent forward and tugged on the edge of the cloth scriptures draped over the priest's shoulders.

"Is that right? What about this thing? That goddess told us magic doesn't work here. You tellin' us that the power of the scriptures of doom are still hangin' around?"

A milky hand slapped Gojyo's fingers away, then threatened his head with a large harisen all in the same fluid motion.

"Touch me again and see what happens, lech. My skill has nothing to do with the sutras."

Withdrawing, Gojyo smirked. "So they _don't_ work, huh? I bet you're feelin' kinda useless yourself, aren't ya?"

The harisen found its way smack across the half-demon's forehead.

"Goddammit Sanzo! Those things are for hitting, not for throwing!" Gojyo picked the fan up and tossed it back up front, rubbing his face with his free hand. "Ya could've put my eye out- uh...no offense, Hakkai."

"Oh, none taken." Hakkai replied, swerving suddenly to avoid a parked vehicle. Honestly, who just left their cars on the side of the road like that? "I really do wish we could have had more direction on where to go."

"Or even money. Money woulda been nice." Gojyo muttered. "Who knew the gold card wouldn't work here?"

"Yeah, no kidding!" Goku chimed in, half whining. "We can't even get anythin' to eat. Isn't there somewhere we could go to find free food?"

"No." Sanzo retorted shortly. "This is waste of our damn time. Wandering aimlessly in some cluttered, polluted town is not the path I pictured this journey taking."

"Maybe we should have asked that girl yesterday to put us up for a night or two." Gojyo suggested, albeit too late. "All ya had to do was let me out t' talk to her. After seeing this-" he motioned a hand across his body, "- I doubt she'd have said no, heh."

"Stupid pervy water sprite!" Goku accused, kicking a heel into the taller man's calf. Then, rethinking what Gojyo had actually said, had a change of heart. "Would've been nice though...coulda got something to eat."

"No, it wouldn't have been nice." Sanzo grumbled, running a palm over his face. This was turning into a nightmare.

"C'mon Sanzo, ya gotta admit that we're pretty much out of options. If it'd have worked, would ya really have said no?" The red-eyed man chortled, lighting up a cigarette.

Hakkai took over answering the question. "While it would have been helpful, I am afraid this isn't the kind of place where it is so easy to be put up for a night by relying on the kindness of strangers. Home is literally an entirely different world. Even in towns where the villagers are on guard, Sanzo's title is what allows us the luxury of bunking in somebody's private residence if we're hard up for shelter."

Catching on, Goku nodded his head. "But nobody knows us or Sanzo in this world." His shoulders slumped at the realization of what that meant.

"Precisely, Goku."

"Tch, that's the only good thing about this place. I can't stand all the fake niceties." Sanzo scowled. Though, secretly, he knew that it was indeed his status as a high priest that gave him pull in Shangri'la. Here, he really was useless.

"So what do we do? Where are we supposed to find these people? The hosts, or whatever they're called." Gojyo searched outside, watching other cars go by and the random pedestrians on the sidewalks.

Nervously, Hakkai peeked at Sanzo, hoping that he would miraculously have some kind of knowledge on the subject.

Feeling the eyes on him, the blond monk shut his own in annoyance.

"Why are you looking at me? I don't know any more than the rest of you do, and that's whatever that hag told us. We come here, find these four hosts, and bring them back to Shangri'la where they can fulfill some crap destiny."

"Yeah- way for her t' keep out _who _they are. I get the feelin' this so-called Merciful Goddess was withholding some information there." Gojyo flicked his ashes outside. "There's gotta be thousands of people living here. It's gonna be impossible t' find four specific ones if we have no clue on who they are."

"Well," Hakkai began thoughtfully, "we _do_ know that they are females. Whether it was intentional or not, Kanzeon let that much slip. I'm sure we will find them soon enough. We just need some kind of lead to follow."

"So how're we gonna get a lead?" Goku asked, clutching his growling stomach. "Coz I'm gonna starve to death if it doesn't happen soon!"

"I somehow doubt that." Sanzo shook his head, though realized they couldn't continue driving around aimlessly. "Hakkai...stop somewhere when you can. You three might as well start looking for a means for shelter and food, and see if you can't figure out some clues on where to find these girls."

"Of course." The driver agreed, glad to have a chance to stretch his legs for a while.

"Ahh, wait a minute!" Gojyo fussed. "Us _three_? What does your royal highness mean to do when we're out doin' all the work?"

Sanzo settled deep against the seat as the Jeep pulled into a supermarket parking lot.

"Try to get some sleep. What else?"


	8. Chapter Seven: Arrivals

**Disclaimer:  **_OK, so by now you have read the previous chapters, and hopefully the disclaimers as well. So you know the drill. Saiyuki belongs to Minekura, not to me. No profit is made from this fanfiction except the pleasure and entertainment of myself, my friends, and hopefully you- the reader. :)_

**Chapter Seven: Arrivals**

**_Small Town, Ohio_**

Ashley's hunter green Ford Super Duty F150 pulled onto the limestone path reserved for parking beside the yard in front of Katie's house. After double-checking all of the arrangements she had made the twenty-one year old found herself with a bit of extra time. Rather than dally around, she decided to get a head start on the ten miles between her rural location and town. There had hardly been any traffic on the country back roads, which was pretty normal. Even Main Street had been practically void of any other vehicles- which wasn't normal at all, even for a town with a population of roughly 8,000.

Pulse racing with anticipation to get the trip officially underway, Ashley swung out of the truck and circled around the front. She hadn't expected to see Katie already struggling to squeeze herself and a multitude of bags through the front door of the small abode. Considering that she had arrived at least half an hour earlier than they'd planned, Ashley thought the older girl would still be trying to rush around and get ready.

"How did you know I was here?"

Tilting her chin toward a large picture window where an American Eskimo dog kept vigil, Katie laughed. "Dove. She must have heard you coming down and started barking like a maniac." Scrunching her face as the straps of her bags began to cut into her fingers, she brought her gray-blue eyes to Ashley. "Help? Please?"

Hazel orbs dropped to the bags the older girl was carrying. "Think you have enough stuff, or did you plan on towing the house behind us, too?"

"_No_," Katie replied shortly as Ashley took two bags from her. "I know it's a lot of stuff, but I brought some books, games, and my convention stuff."

"Ah, right." The taller of the two nodded, packing the bags into the back of the covered truck bed. "I didn't bring anything apart from my clothes and things for the con. I didn't know if we'd have much time outside of whatever Mandi has planned for us."

"Eh, I figured if there was any down time I'd be prepared." Katie shrugged, loading up the last of the bags.

"Are we ready then? Sure you have everything? Money? ID?"

"Yes, yes...I know I'm forgetful, but I remembered everything I need." Ashen blue eyes fixated on the fluffy white dog wagging her tail in the window. "I wish I could bring the animals with us. I've never been away from them for this long."

"They'll be fine." Ashley sighed, inching toward the driver side door. "Besides, it'll be hard for us to really enjoy ourselves if we have to worry about taking care of the pets while we're there."

"At least Tig, you know?" Katie frowned, slowly making her way to her side of the truck. The cat had been her best friend for the last fourteen years or so. It was hard to leave the feline behind. "But I guess you're right. I just hope they'll be alright."

"They will be. I know Mandi probably wouldn't mind if the animals came with us, but we have to remember it isn't really her own house. Her grandparents probably wouldn't like it if she ignored their wishes and let pets inside." Ashley slid into her seat, waiting until the older girl had joined her before starting the truck.

Resigned, Katie agreed. It wasn't until the truck was speeding onto the straight route toward Illinois that her saddened mood improved. A thrill raced through her as the small town was left further and further behind until she had forgotten completely about being a bit upset to begin with.

With windows down and a country station blaring, the pair placed all their focus on heading West.

**_Chicago Suburbs_**

Two missed exits, one pit stop, and a handful of wrong turns later, the Ford rumbled down the suburban side street where Mandi's house was located. Even though they'd had a few delays, the girls had made decent time. It was only four-thirty, about an hour past the time they thought they'd arrive, and Mandi had already been notified that they were running a little late.

As the pick-up rolled to a stop in the driveway, Katie took the liberty of reaching across Ashley and honked the horn a couple of times to sound their arrival.

"Was that necessary?" Ashley rubbed her face before glancing at her travel companion.

Grinning, Katie popped her door open. "No, not really, but it worked in getting Mandi out here."

Sure enough, the screen door on the side of the two-story, single family home had opened and the brunette young woman had popped her head out to see what the noise was about. When she saw her friends exiting the green truck, she smiled and bounded down the four porch steps toward them.

"Finally! I was starting to think you were really lost."

Katie grinned, taking a leaping hug onto the brown-eyed girl. "Glomp!"

Mandi returned the hug, then moved to greet Ashley as well.

"We just got turned around a few times. I was going as fast as I could." The tallest of the three said apologetically.

"Yeah, I think Ash was speeding at some points." Katie laughed.

Arching a brow, Ashley crossed her arms. "I wouldn't have had to if _someone_ hadn't kept threatening to help me step on the gas pedal if we didn't get here soon."

The twenty-four year old rolled her eyes upward, feigning innocence. "I have no idea what you could mean."

Waving a hand, Mandi beckoned the girls toward the house. "You're here now, so no worries. Grab your stuff and bring it in. I just got finished cleaning. I went shopping earlier and stocked the fridge. That was fun..walking home weighted down by all the groceries."

"You could have waited for us to get here, I'd have drove us." Ashley shook her head, hauling some of the bags out then followed Mandi inside, Katie trailing the pair.

"Ah, yeah. I thought of that, but not until after I'd bought everything. I guess I just got ahead of myself." The pony-tailed brunette replied, holding the door open for her friends to get through.

Leading the pair through the dining room and living room, Mandi gave a short tour, describing where everything was in the house. She opened the door concealing the ascending staircase, bringing them up to the first bedroom on the immediate right from the landing.

"This is one of the spare rooms. You can toss your stuff in here if you want to. There's another small room downstairs at the bottom of the steps next to the bathroom. Down this way..." She waited for the girls to put their belongings down before leading them along the narrow hall on the left. "...another bathroom. This one has the shower. Downstairs has a tub if you feel like a regular bath. Just make sure you tell someone before using either because the plumbing is really old and you'll either get scalded or frozen to death if someone turns on a faucet somewhere."

"Good to know." Ashley laughed. "I don't really care, I'm just glad to be in a house that has pluming that _works_."

"Ah, to live in the lap of luxury." Katie teased, bouncing on her heels. "So is this your room, Mandi?" She pointed to the shut bi-folding door straight before them.

"Yep." Mandi grinned, pushing inside of the bedroom to reveal the colorful posters, figurines, and various decorations of the room she occupied the most. At the sight of the King-sized bed, Katie cried out and promptly flopped onto it.

"I wish my room had the space for a bed this big!"

"I do love my bed..." Mandi smiled and then walked to her desk, dragging out a phone book to thumb through. "I thought we could order some Chinese for dinner if you guys are hungry. There's a place up the street from here called Moon Temple. The food is _so good_."

"Chinese sounds delicious." Katie enthused, sitting up onto the edge of the bed. "Ash?"

"Whatever you guys want is fine with me. I'm sure I can find something I'll like."

Mandi's lips curved up at the corners at the youngest girl's indifference. It was so like her, to go along with whatever plans had been laid out already. So long as Ashley wasn't heavily opinionated against an idea, she would go with the flow.

Even though Mandi had known Ashley for the least amount of time out of her friends, the two had almost instantly bonded. All four girls, including Erin, had clicked right away in meeting one another. It was like they had known each other for eons. While they had their share of disagreements, it was never anything that couldn't be solved over time. None of them seemed to have very many friends outside of each other- and it was for this that Mandi was glad that such a thing as the Internet had been invented. Without it, she doubted the four would have ever come to know one another.

Finding the number she was looking for, Mandi waved to her Ohioan friends. "I'm going to get some really good stuff, I promise. Chicken fried rice, crab rangoon, egg drop soup, sweet and sour chicken, almond cookies, and some pot stickers, because I know Katie likes them. Oh-and did you guys call home yet?"

Reminded, the young women unsheathed their cell phones and dialed home as Mandi got on with the Chinese restaurant to place their order. By the time she had finished, she found her friends huddled in front of the shelves containing all of the anime she owned. From the sounds of it, they were plotting out what they wanted to watch during their stay.

"How about a Saiyuki marathon to kick things off?" Mandi suggested, which evidently was a well-received idea. "OK. We'll walk up to pick up the food first, then we can start when we get back. It should be ready in about ten minutes and it isn't far, so we can leave now."

"Sounds like a plan," Ashley answered.

As they left the house and made their way down the drive, Katie cleared her throat. "So I have a random question. What time did you two wake up this morning?"

Mandi glanced over her shoulder to look at her friend. "That is random. Hm, it was kind of early. About twenty after eight, something like that. Why?"

"Interesting..." Katie trailed off. She didn't elaborate until she noted the expressions reading on her friends' faces that they wondered where she was headed with the question. "I woke up at about nine-twenty. The same time, just ahead of you because of the time zones."

Ashley slowed her steps. "That's what time I got up."

Katie eyeballed the two. "So we all woke up at the same time...I'm going out on a limb here, but do you remember what your dreams were?"

Mandi remained quiet, absently tugging at the end of her ponytail, progressively walking slower until she stopped. While it made sense that she would get up early, she knew her friends well enough to know they must have gone to bed quite late. For them to skimp on sleep was rather out of the ordinary.

"Still with us?" Katie passed a hand in front of Mandi's glazed over eyes.

"She went on her own vacation and left us here." Ashley joked.

Breaking free of her reverie, Mandi laughed. "Sorry, I was just thinking... I know I had a dream, but I don't really remember anything from it. It was kind of windy, but that's all I can get."

"I never really remember my dreams." Ashley stated. "Though...I seem to remember water, and flowers coming down onto it."

Katie canted her head to one side. "I remember the flowers, and it was kind of windy, too." She squinted, trying to recall more, but had no luck. "You know, I also thought that I heard somebody speaking to me. That's why I woke up so damned early. I thought somebody was trying to wake me up."

Mandi and Ashley exchanged glances, both having the same thought.

"Me too." They said simultaneously.

For the next few seconds, the three looked at one another as thought one of them would come up with some kind of logical reasoning behind what seemed to be some kind of phenom. When none of them uttered a word, they laughed awkwardly and resumed walking up the street.

"That's strange." Ashley shook her head. "I don't really know what to think about it all."

Mandi agreed as they came to the end of the sidewalk, preparing to cross over to where the restaurant stood. "No joke. I had this feeling, too, like I was forgetting to do something important. I never figured out what, though."

"I have a feeling, too." Ashley said in a low tone. "A funny one about this Jeep that has passed us about three times in the last five minutes."

The tall, hazel-eyed girl watched warily as the vehicle came up the street from the direction they had just come. The girls started across, though soon noticed that the Jeep showed no signal that it planned on slowing down for the stop sign at the corner. Cursing aloud, they picked up the pace, narrowly missing getting hit by inches. They flinched at the screeching of tires coming to a hard stop.

Whirling on her heels, Mandi threw her hands up. "Are you _insane?_ Where did you learn to drive, asshole? China?"

"What the hell!" Katie backed up to the curb, coming up beside Ashley who was glowering toward the Jeep.

Mandi groaned in exasperation, turning to head to the Moon Temple entrance when the driver side door opened to the Jeep. "Some people should _not_ be allowed on the road, I swear."

"I am _so_ sorry. Are you three alright?" A male voice, presumably the driver's inquired shakily.

The sound of the passenger side door opening followed. "You were going too fast."

"I know, I wasn't paying attention. I am very sorry."

"Well that was kind of stupid, wasn't it? You could have killed us." Mandi snapped, stopping short of the glass door to the restaurant then turned back around to call her two friends. "Come on guys, lets get in—guys?"

Neither Katie or Ashley had moved from their spot on the curb. They seemed to be in some state of shock, staring speechlessly toward the Jeep.

"What are you.." Mandi walked over to them, then did a double-take of the Jeep and the four young Asian men standing near it. "...what? _What?_"

"Uh, Mandi?" Katie choked out, nudging the brunette's side. "You see what I see?"

Ashley echoed. "Do _I_ see what you see?"

The quartet of men, all in their early twenties and bearing almost impossible good looks, stood on either side of the vehicle. They were dressed oddly for the time period _and_ for the location. The driver had unruly dark brown hair, a jade oriental tunic with a sash tied across his shoulder over a pair of khakis; beside him stood a lithe, tanned man with remarkably red hair, wearing a blue vest, white shirt, and strange brown pants that ballooned at the knees; beyond them was a golden-haired, pale man with arms folded over the front of long white robes; peeking out from behind him was a chestnut haired youth wearing spiky shoulder pads and a yellow cape over a red shirt.

The driver stepped forward. "I really do apologize. We aren't from around here, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the...roads."

"No shit?" Katie breathed, not taking her eyes off of the group.

"So you're sure the convention is next week, right?" Ashley asked quietly.

"Uh-huh." Mandi answered.

"Think they're cosplaying early?" Katie offered.

"I'unno." Mandi shrugged.

"This early though?" Ashley reputed.

"Not...likely."

"And this _good_?" Katie whispered.

"...not likely." Mandi repeated, taking a step backward as the driver took another one forward.

"I am sorry." He nearly pleaded, adjusting his glasses.

"Are you through apologizing yet, Hakkai?" The blond man asked gruffly.

"Did he say Hakkai?" Mandi tore her eyes away to look at her friends.

"That he did." Ashley confirmed.

Mandi laughed weakly, pointing at the four. "That can't be right. Wow. You guys are _really good_."

"Hey!" The shortest of the young men shouted, pushing past the robed figure. "You're the girl from yesterday! The one who gave us the bag back!"

At this, Katie and Ashley turned toward Mandi. They remembered what they'd been told the previous night. About the bag on the sidewalk, the Jeep, and the man asking her to give it back.

"Holy shit, that was all true." Katie gaped, grabbing Ashley's arm.

"Yeah, it seems that way."

"I told you something weird was going on!" Mandi shouted louder than she'd meant to.

"So that's her?" The redheaded man smirked, allowing his eyes to roam. "She's kinda cute. So are her friends. How's it going ladies?"

Cheeks flushing, Mandi fumbled for something to say. "This is..._impossible_."

"I don't believe this." Ashley tried to avert her eyes from the man checking them over.

"Hey something smells good!" The caped boy began to sniff the air, taking in the aromas from the restaurant.

"Oh, our food! I forgot!" Mandi returned to the Moon Temple entrance. "Stay there, I'll be right back..just..don't move."

She vanished inside the building leaving her two friends with the young men.

They wondered how long the Jeep could sit in the middle of the street before a passing police officer pulled over to find out what was going on. A few drivers had already honked as they drove past. Luckily, nobody else had tried to use the side street that was currently blocked.

Just as Mandi returned with an armload of take-out bags, a bizarre squawk emitted from underneath the hood of the Jeep. She jumped, nearly dropping everything and joined Katie and Ashley in staring at the transport.

"What the hell Hakkai? I thought ya said the bird couldn't change back or anything like that!" The redhead said, poking one of the tires with the tip of a boot to elicit another, quieter squawk.

Equally as stunned, the driver placed a palm on the hood. "He can't change here, Gojyo- though it does seem that Hakuryuu has enough living energy transferred here to be somewhat sentient. I wish I had known this sooner, I wouldn't have ignored you, Hakuryuu."

"This is great and all, but I think we should get going." The robed man said dryly, taking notice of their shorter companion creeping toward the young women. "Goku, what are you doing?"

"So...hungry..." He stopped in front of Mandi, practically drooling over the paper bags in her arms. "Sanzo...they have food."

After hearing all four names, the girls felt a dizzying effect sweep over them. Things like this just didn't happen in real life, did they?

"Cho Hakkai, Sha Gojyo, Son Goku, and Genjyo Sanzo." Katie pointed at each of them in a half-daze.

"Aren't you knowledgeable?" Sanzo retorted, suspicion forming in his mind as to how the young woman knew their full names.

"You know who we are?" Hakkai asked with astonishment.

"Yeah, but you can't _really_ be...you. I mean, you've got to be the best cosplayers we've ever seen. You're missing the monocle, but that's alright- Hakkai wears glasses sometimes...and the Jeep. How did you get it to do that?" Mandi rambled on, torn between staying put and running over to examine it for herself.

"Hakuryuu always does that. And we're not in costume. These are our regular clothes." Goku informed, still eying the food.

"My monocle?" Hakkai tilted his head to one side, smiling lightly as he withdrew a single, silver lens from one pant pocket. "I was told that it wasn't really in fashion here and that people might stare. Not that we aren't used to it, but I suppose if it helps us to fit in a bit better..."

"Oh wow." Mandi coughed out, leaning forward to inspect the accessory. "OK, this is really happening, isn't it?"

"How do you know us?" Sanzo probed, violet eyes intense.

"Who cares how? The fact is that they _do._" Gojyo cast a crimson gaze at the grumpy blond. "And they are welcome to know me _all_ they want."

"Gojyo, honestly..." Hakkai sighed, pocketing his monocle. "Forgive me for being a bit forward ladies, but we seem to have found ourselves in something of a predicament."

"Yeah, this goddess lady brought us here, but she didn't give us any money or food or even a place to stay." Goku explained, glancing between the young women. "We're supposed t' be lookin' for ...some people, but we really need somewhere to stay til we do."

"Tell them our life story while you're at it, why don't you?" Sanzo warned, though gained nothing from it.

"Why don't they stay with us?" Katie half asked, half offered.

"You can't just invite them," Ashley narrowed her eyes. "It's not our home to be asking them to stay. Besides, we don't know if-"

"-we would truly appreciate it." Hakkai interrupted. "I would hate to have anyone put out, but we're in a very difficult position. Apart from sleeping inside the Jeep, we are a bit out of luck on everything else."

Mandi's mouth moved, but it was a few moments before any words were formed. "Uh...y-yeah, I mean, I guess it'd be okay? For a night or two? Right?"

Katie grinned while Ashley remained skeptical. "This could be a big mistake. You know this is very unlikely that what you think is happening actually _is_ happening, right?"

What were the odds of it? It all seemed real enough, and most cosplayers didn't go through the trouble of outfitting a car with special effects just for that specific reason. In addition to that, about ninety percent of all Saiyuki cosplayers were Caucasian girls dressed as male characters. These four were definitely male, definitely cute, and definitely Asian.

"I would say the odds are slim to none." Mandi admitted. "But it's really hard to ignore what is right in front of us. Come on then. Have a sense of adventure." She smiled nervously at the young men. "What do you say?"

"Don't have to twist _my_ arm, honey." Gojyo smirked, turning to get back inside the Jeep. "Just tell us where t' go."

Mandi quickly relayed the directions, then added that they were welcome to join them for dinner as she'd gotten plenty of food.

"Awesome!" Goku enthused, jumping with a fist pump toward the sky.

"I thought you said things here don't work out the same as we're used to back home, Hakkai." Sanzo sighed, waiting for Goku to get back into the Jeep before he climbed into place.

"It appears I was wrong, Sanzo. Let's call it a stroke of good luck and not look a gift horse in the mouth, eh?" Came the affable reply.

The three young women waited until the Jeep was completely reoccupied before they hurried on toward Mandi's house. Once they had reached the halfway point about two minutes later, they burst into a flurry of laughter.

"No way! Just..no way!" Katie shook her head, ash-brown hair swaying.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure..." Ashley snickered. "Mandi, are you sure you want them in your house? What if they turn out to be serial killers?"

Mandi caught her breath. "Technically, they are in any regard, aren't they? I mean, if this is really them, think of how many demons they've slain. Anyway, who knows? Maybe this is some whacked out coincidence, but...if this is _real?_ I can't not take this chance. Call me crazy."

"You're crazy." The taller girl rebounded, but had relented to her friend's decision.

"With the things that happened yesterday, and then for this to happen now...I can't see another way of explaining it. I just hope we all aren't hallucinating or something."

"Well, we're about to find out." Katie interjected as they waited in front of the house. "Here they come."


	9. Chapter Eight: The Sleepover 1

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own Saiyuki, it and the amazing characters from it belong to the awesome Kazuya Minekura. No profit outside of the entertainment of myself, my friends, and readers is made from this fan-fiction. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. :)_

**Chapter Eight: The Sleepover**

A few minutes after the impromptu meeting near the Chinese restaurant, Hakkai turned the Jeep down the street the girls had instructed. Slowing the vehicle, he kept his eyes peeled for the house where the three young women said they would be waiting outside.

It was no sooner than the traveling group had climbed into the Jeep that Goku voiced his opinion about their new acquaintances. He thought that they might be the hosts they'd come to find, though Sanzo immediately dismissed the idea.

The monk didn't want any of them to get their hopes up for no good reason. Nothing ever worked out quite this easily for them without some kind of repercussion. He expected a challenge in finding the alleged reincarnated _Si Yousu_, and nearly running them down was not quite how he pictured it. Not to mention that Kanzeon had told them to seek out a group of four, and here the girls only numbered three. Gojyo had put in his two cents, expressing that a fourth woman could be back at the house. While Sanzo knew that it could be true, his instinct told him there was not anyone who had been left behind. To him, it didn't seem logical for more than two people to take a walk out of a group of four and leave one of them behind.

Besides, he swore he'd heard it once from the half-blooded man that women tended to travel in packs.

In spite of the priest's attempts to quash his party's hopes, they were already set on believing what they wanted. Hakkai had an unshakable notion that they were suddenly several steps closer to accomplishing the side mission they were sent to do.

Not that it meant they would succeed just as quickly. If it turned out that the young women were indeed the ones the travelers sought out, there were a few obstacles to overcome. As Sanzo had reminded, there was a fourth to be discovered yet. Then convincing the monk to get over his stubborn nature had to be considered.

Of course, there was also the idea of telling the girls who they were. Or getting them to believe it. Worse yet, persuading them to leave not only their homes and families, but the very world they had come to know.

Leaving Shangri'la wasn't so difficult for the guys, Sanzo's griping aside. They knew they would return once they'd reached their goal. Nobody could say the same for the women who would have to cross into an unknown realm without knowing the purpose. None of the young men could positively claim a safe return home for the hosts of Elemental souls.

This troubled Hakkai more than anything.

"Hakkai? Somethin' wrong?" Gojyo broke through the driver's silent distress.

"Not at all." Hakkai smiled too cheerfully. "Why?"

"'Coz ya just passed the house." Goku chimed.

Embarrassed, Hakkai slammed his heel on the brakes, causing a squealing complaint from the still sentient Hakuryuu. The Jeep forced into a tightly made U-turn, rattling about the passengers within.

Goku and Gojyo swayed, thumping their heads on the windows of their respectable sides and groaned in unison.

"Oww...that really hurt." Goku complained holding his forehead.

"Dammit Hakkai." Gojyo rubbed the sore spot at the top of his head, half glaring at his best friend's reflection in the rear-view mirror. "I'd like to be in prime shape for these ladies, y'know. I can't do much sweet talking or romancing if ya kill all my brain cells."

"You mean you still have some left?" Sanzo quipped with a wry smile. "Could have fooled me."

"Har-har...asshole." The hanyou mumbled under his breath, starting to preen himself, trying to straighten his clothing out as the Jeep pulled into the driveway behind the hunter green truck.

Goku pressed his nose against the window. "I can still smell all that delicious food...I can't wait to eat! Fried rice, and cookies, and pot stickers..."

"Your brain is a damn pot sticker, chimp. Shut the hell up, you're startin' to piss me off." Gojyo brought his fist down onto the golden-eyed boy's head, rubbing the knuckles into his scalp.

"O-o-ow! Cut it out you stupid H2O asshole!" Goku squirmed, smacking the taller man's arm in retaliation.

"Now, now..." Hakkai chuckled with some exasperation. "Do you think you can at least _try_ to behave yourselves for one night? Those girls are being awfully generous letting us stay with them. I'd hate for you to be kicked out and get stuck sleeping in the streets because you can't keep your hands off of each other."

"Why are we the only ones who would get kicked out?" Gojyo implored, eyebrows narrowing. "That isn't fair."

The monk huffed as they all climbed out of the Jeep. "I doubt either of them will behave unless Goku is constantly shoveling food into his face and Gojyo is occupied by some tart."

"That might be true." A female voice agreed from nearby.

They found the pony-tailed brunette standing in front of them with an all too knowing smile on her oval shaped face. "While we do have plenty of food, I'm afraid we're fresh out of tart."

"Don't expect too much peace and quiet, then." Sanzo snorted. "Gojyo isn't housebroken."

"Oh that's alright," Katie stepped up beside her younger friend. "We can handle a little bad behavior."

Quirking a brow, the redhead chuckled lasciviously, much to Hakkai's dismay. The Asian dandy lifted his palms.

"We'll still try our best not to be too much of a bother."

The tallest of the girls leaned down, muttering to her friends. "_That_ sounds familiar."

Turning her cobalt gaze to the young men, the eldest girl smirked. "Personally, I'd love to have you be a bother. I think we'd all like that, considering it's pretty damn surprising to have you actually here, like we've always talked about..."

Her sentence trailed off as she found the barrel of a pistol aimed square between her eyes.

If the girls hadn't already been content with the possibility that these men were really who they thought, then they were definitely persuaded in that moment. Or, at the very least, they were convinced that Sanzo was possibly a crazed, cosplaying lunatic.

"You can put the gun down." Katie spoke, a little shaken.

The blond squinted at her, as though sizing her up. "What did you mean by that? Having us here like you've always talked about?"

The older girl stared at the shining gunmetal before meeting Sanzo's suspicious, violet gaze.

"Well that didn't take long. I was hoping we'd last at least a few hours before you thought we were out to kill you."

"No shit..." Mandi gaped, frozen in place. It was one thing to see these things happen in a manga, or in an anime, but when faced with it in real life...she wasn't too certain it held the same credible humor.

"What it means," Ashley started, slowly moving forward, "is that we never believed you'd wind up here."

"Right." Katie affirmed, nodding quickly. "It means we're glad that you're all in our company, Sanzo." She tried to keep her voice soft and even to quell his urge to be overly trigger happy. "We know who you four are, where you're from, and what you do. What we _don't_ know is why you're here. It's something we've discussed, and even wished over, but it should be impossible."

"We never thought you were real." Ashley finished.

The quartet had a mutual expression of confused shock wash over their faces.

Mandi grinned a bit, still unsure of how to dispel the tension. From the looks of things, the three men standing behind Sanzo weren't certain on what to do either.

The monk kept his arm raised, on the fence as to what to do. He likely wouldn't shoot, but until he could think about the situation he would keep the Smith&Wesson in position as a means to give him that time to make an assessment.

The other three waited patiently, as it was usually best to allow Sanzo these moments without interrupting. Otherwise, he'd only become more irate and threaten to turn on them, too. Even so, they were tired, hungry, and by the smell of things, in dire need of a shower. There Sanzo was, thinking about shooting away their only likely path to meeting those needs.

"Don't you ever get tired of trying to shoot people, Sanzo?" Katie mused, knowing full well that he wouldn't pull the trigger.

Frankly, nobody really thought that he would follow through. They knew well enough that it was the priest's way of handling a situation which made him feel cornered or irritated.

"Oh put the damn gun away, we all know you're not going to shoot." Mandi overcame her tongue-tied state, putting her hands on her hips and suddenly taking on the appearance of a mother scolding her child. "We're trying to be hospitable here, so chill out would you?"

Coming to life as if the young woman's words started some unseen ignition, Hakkai moved to stand beside the priest. "Sanzo, she's right. You have to remember that we don't face the same dangers here as we would face at home. I really don't believe they are out to get us. Perhaps we should find out what we can first before passing any sort of judgment?"

"I'd listen to him if I were you." Ashley added, holding up her cell phone. "All I have to do is use this if you actually shoot her and have the police here in no time flat. Then they'll be hauling your ass off to jail and you'll _really_ be stuck."

"Yes, I think that would cause more trouble than what it's worth." Hakkai continued to reason with Sanzo. "Besides, if they really are-"

"-shut up." The violet eyed, pretty-faced priest snapped and lowered the banishing gun. He knew they were all making sense. It was the unfamiliar territory that left him feeling so strained. "Fine. Hospitality accepted. But if _anyone_-"

"-tried anything stupid, you'll kill us." Mandi ended with a nonchalant air. "We know. Jeez, lighten up a little, Sanzo. You're so severe."

"Amazing." Goku uttered, impressed at the perfect recital of Sanzo's usual refute.

"Now that nobody has been shot to death, I vote that we go inside to eat." Ashley remarked.

"Yeah! Food!" The amber-eyed boy shouted, sprinting after the taller girl who had taken the liberty of heading inside first.

Sanzo began to follow at a slower gait, wishing that the chimp-like youth had come with an off-switch. Or at least had a way to funnel the excess energy elsewhere.

Gojyo lit a cigarette as he moved onward, only to be stopped by a light touch to his forearm. Crimson eyes rolled down to see the brunette hostess paused before him.

"Heya honey, can I help ya?" He winked and she quickly withdrew her hand. "What? I don't bite...unless ya want me to."

"Ah..." Mandi stammered, heat rising to her face under the obvious flirtatious gaze. "Ehm..." she coughed and managed to compose herself despite Katie's giggling in the background. "Yeah. You can smoke if you want to, but I'd rather that you didn't do it inside. The same goes for you, Sanzo." She called out, getting a brief wave of a hand from the monk as acknowledgment. She turned back to Gojyo. "It's just that I'm allergic to it, for one thing. Also, I'm renting the house from my grandparents. Can't have the smoke-smell on the furniture."

"Sure sweetheart, whatever ya say." Gojyo complied, giving her what he thought would be a pacifying pat on the head. Apparently, she didn't take to innocent advances very well.

Lips tugging down at the corners, Mandi softly thanked him though appeared bothered by a new issue. While the use of pet names was generally irksome when used by complete strangers, it was somewhat flattering coming from the handsome, tall redhead. Though it wasn't what bothered her. The use of the endearments reminded the girl that she and her friends had never introduced themselves.

Katie, seeming to pick up on her friend's brainwaves, spoke up. "We do have names, you know."

"You never gave them." Sanzo responded flatly, lingering at the base of the side door steps.

"That is true, we were never told, and here you know our names." Hakkai laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I suppose you forgot?"

"Sorry about that." Mandi replied a bit guiltily. "We weren't really thinking about it, I guess. I'm Mandi."

"I'm Katie." The older girl said, then gestured toward the house. "And the one who went inside is Ashley. Think you can remember that?"

Hakkai beamed almost too brightly. "Of course. We aren't as simple-minded as we look...most of the time."

Before more could be said, a loud crash echoed through the screen door, coming from the kitchen. Mandi's grimaced as Sanzo cursed, fairly flying inside the house. Seconds later, he was heard shouting, blows from the harisen landing on what the others all imagined was poor Goku's head.

Snuffing his cigarette, Gojyo disposed of the butt and smirked. "Sounds like the monkey is already in trouble. That's gotta be a new record."

"So much for not being a bother." Hakkai said with resignation. He hated it when his promises were broken, though it was no fault of his own.

The remaining four filed into the house, piling in side by side along the wall that made up the kitchen and miniscule foyer between it and the dining room. Being so crowded together, Mandi became increasingly aware of the reality of the guys' presence. Her shoulders pressed into Hakkai's arm on one side, and Gojyo's stomach on the other as the hanyou squeezed by her. It was almost overwhelming, and she shared a wide-eyed expression with Katie who was grinning like a fiend. Feeling too close for comfort, Mandi began to move forward, only to hear Ashley's sharp voice commanding her to stop.

"Don't move! Goku dropped a plate and I don't know where all the pieces went."

The figures standing near the wall peeked past the tall young woman to see Sanzo glowering over Goku, giant fan in hand.

"Can't you keep from destroying things wherever we go?"

"Oh my...what a mess." Hakkai murmured, seeing bits of food intermingled with the shards of ceramic scrawled all over the linoleum.

Goku's golden eyes frantically sought out someone to reprieve him from more of Sanzo's wrath. "It just slipped, I swear! I'm really sorry- I didn't mean it."

"It's OK Goku, accidents happen." Katie tried to sooth his nerves, leaning onto the counter to get a better look at the floor without risking her feet on it. "Easily fixable. Mandi, where do you keep the broom?"

Shifting her position, Mandi slipped behind Hakkai, brushing against his back and fighting back another blush as she did so. Opening the basement door directly across from where they'd entered the house, the twenty-two year old reached around the frame and lifted the broom and dustpan from the wall hook before handing it to Katie. The old girl took it and began to help Ashley sweep up the broken plate and spilled food.

"I really am sorry." Goku offered once more, picking his feet up in turn so the girls could sweep beneath him.

"Just be more careful next time." Ashley reassured him. "We know you wouldn't waste food on purpose."

Once the mess was cleaned up and disposed of, Ashley made up another plate for Goku which he took gingerly. As he turned for the dining room, he stumbled over somebody's foot within the crowded confines of the kitchen. He froze, clutching the plate tightly and managed to just barely balance himself so as not to lose anything off of it.

"What is wrong with you today?" Sanzo scolded, striking the harisen once more across the back of Goku's head. "Didn't you hear her say to be more careful?"

"Ow! Well I didn't drop anything!" Goku argued.

"That's enough!" Mandi cried out. "He just tripped. There are too many people in here, there isn't enough room to move. You don't need to use that thing every time he makes a mistake- especially insignificant ones. If you can't keep the fan to yourself for five minutes, then you're welcome to sleep in the yard."

"Wow...you go." Katie laughed as she maneuvered past the others to get her share of the Chinese dinner waiting for them.

The priest glared with some bewilderment. Not many people dared to yell at him, let alone stand up for Goku. Though, he supposed the culture was a bit different in this world. There must not have been many priests disciplining wild-child types in this manner. Holding up the harisen, Sanzo eyed it for a moment, debating on using it on the young woman. Instead, he stowed it away in one of his long, white sleeves.

"Fine. Have it your way. Just don't complain to me when he starts to annoy the shit out of you."

Mandi spurted with laughter, waving her hand. "Yeah, OK." She didn't think she could ever find that energetic boy annoying. He was far too innocently cute to be bothersome.

"...is she retarded?" Sanzo asked, dead serious, looking between Ashley and Katie.

"We really couldn't tell you." Ashley answered with a shrug, though one side of her mouth tugged upward. "We haven't figured her out yet completely."

"But that's alright, we like it like that." Katie snickered.

"It's annoying." The monk grunted, taking his food as a plate was passed to him before he seated himself in the dining room along with the others.

Having gathered her wits, Mandi poised her fork over her plate and looked up at Sanzo.

"Are you calling me annoying?"

Hakkai chuckled. "He thinks everyone is annoying, my dear. It's best not to take it to heart."

"That's including you." Sanzo directed at the dark-haired man with a slight growl to his tone.

The meal began from that point in silence. The only noises came from the utensils scraping over the plates, or Goku's smacking lips as he devoured the first decent meal he'd had in two days.

Each of them had their own slew of questions tumbling around in their minds, wondering what should be addressed first. The girls, for the most part, spent their time watching the four travelers. The longer they observed, the more the three young women came closer to the conclusion that they were definitely some sort of fictional tale come true.

Everything was perfect, from the way they spoke, moved, and displayed emotion. Right down to their manners at the table, the guys had yet to miss a single beat.

Even Ashley couldn't ignore the likenesses any longer. Having managed a seat across from Gojyo, she studied him as discretely as she could manage.

His long hair, partially drawn back into a ponytail to keep out of the way while eating, was certainly real and the exact shade of blood-red. There weren't any dark or light roots showing, or even strands of a color that varied too much from the rest of the locks. It was just _too good_ to be a dye job or a wig. The left side of his face bore the infamous twin scars scraped glossy salmon-pink along his cheek. It looked too real to be flesh make-up.

What startled Ashley the most were the crimson eyes. Bright, ruby eyes that were void of the tell-tale edges of contact lenses seemed as though the irises had been injected with the color. The long, black lashes even curled at the corners, marking the sign of demonic heritage. They didn't look fake in the least. The clothes, the color of his skin, the angles of his face- it was all too well put together, too natural.

Ashley dropped her fork when Gojyo suddenly lifted his chin toward her, his visage darkening into something sullen.

Was she looking at him? Of course she was, and probably for the reasons most other people did. His features weren't commonplace. He stood out in a crowd no matter where he went. Those who put two and two together generally tried to avoid him or curse him for his heritage. Others who remained oblivious to his genetic plight made him feel all the worse when he was put off by their compliments about his 'pretty' hair and eyes.

While Gojyo had basically gotten over the vivid color of his features and what they meant- after all, he knew full well he was attractive despite them- it made him uneasy when people kept their eyes on him for an extended period.

"I'd appreciate if ya wouldn't stare."

"Uh...I didn't mean to." Ashley bowed her head, pretending to be vastly interested in her meal. Like any of her friends – or fans of the fictional show in general- she had a favorite character. Hers happened to be Gojyo, having a penchant for redheads and cocky, attractive men who knew how to use his words without looking like a pig. Having studied him so closely, she had to face the end result.

"Sorry. Though now I'm certain you're who you say you are. Not some fake."

Puzzled, Gojyo leaned back in his chair and gazed at the three young women in turn. "So what's the deal with you chicks? How do you know so much about us?"

"You chicks..." Katie echoed, amused. "Would you look at that, Mandi? He already forgot our names."

"What a shame." Hakkai shook his head, feigning disappointment. "I'm beginning to lose faith in your memory, Gojyo."

"Ch..." The hanyou pointed to each of the girls. "Katie, Mandi, and Ashley. I didn't forget. Goku's the one who has to repeat names to remember them."

"Ha, yeah, like Hakkai's name after it was changed." Mandi blurted out a bit mindlessly.

The dining room fell into an uncomfortable hush as four pairs of eyes bored through the brunette woman. Slowly lowering her fork, the hostess felt the edges of her ears burning.

"Um...touchy subject?"

"That was kinda creepy." Goku said, looking to his comrades.

Hakkai's countenance progressed from amiable, to stunned, to somewhat disturbed. Green eyes averted to an invisible point on the wall across from him. How did he address something like this? It was a faux pas by far, and while he imagined she didn't mean anything by it, Hakkai had to wonder how she even came by such information.

Sanzo focused on the young women, his unease building rapidly since arriving at the house. "If you'd care to now, I think it's a good time for a story. Tell us how you know these things about us."

Mandi looked to Katie, then to Ashley. The youngest shook her strawberry-blond streaked head.

"Nope, I'm not getting into this. I don't feel like helping dig this hole."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence..."

Katie smiled thinly. "Where do we start?"


	10. Chapter Nine: The Sleepover 2

**Disclaimer:** _(Do I really still need to do this? Well, here goes...) Saiyuki copyrighted to Kazuya Minekura. No profits made in the writing of this fan-fiction. So don't sue me...coz I'm broke. :)_

**Chapter Nine: The Sleepover 2**

Mandi bit her lower lip, tugging at her ponytail as the tension around the table escalated. So the guys wanted to know why she and her friends knew so much about them. She knew they would ask, that the girls would have to tell all. They just hadn't had any time to prepare for it.

How did one go about revealing that the world these four came from was something closely watched by thousands of people?

"Mandi? Any ideas?" Katie urged, poking her friend's shoulder.

"I suppose wherever it would make the most sense?"

Sanzo tapped his fingers on the table. He was sure they were stalling for time.

"Just start talking. Now, please."

"I think that 'please' was sarcastic." Katie retorted, ignoring the glare she received from the priest.

"Now." He repeated with a heavy sigh.

"Alright, don't get your holy panties in a twist, Sanzo." Mandi put her hands up to quell him.

"Ha-ha...panties." Gojyo laughed in spite of the awkwardness in the room, though quieted himself when Sanzo began to reach into his robes. "Hey, remember what she said about that fan, monk."

Violet eyes flashing, Sanzo clenched his jaw and spoke through gritted teeth. "She didn't say I couldn't beat the hell out of you. Just Goku."

Goku grinned, stuffing a fortune cookie into his mouth to keep from laughing at the hanyou. He didn't really see why his friends were so wary. So far, the girls had been really nice to all of them. The heretic was curious, sure, but he didn't think that there were any bad intentions underlying their hospitality. This wasn't Shangri'la; enemies didn't have to lurk around every corner. Some people _could_ be trusted.

Returning his focus on the young women, of whom the tallest one still opted out of speaking, Sanzo motioned a hand at them. "I'm waiting."

"Well, just try to keep an open mind and we'll do our best." Katie asked, getting the ball rolling. When the four acquiesced, she resumed. "Our world is a lot different from yours, as I'm sure you can tell. You've got certain...technologies, but here we have quite a bit more. We have a variety of mediums through which we can get information, Television being one of them."

"There are television sets in Shangri'la." Hakkai informed. "However, they aren't a commonly seen commodity and I've heard they rarely work properly. I've only seen one in my lifetime."

"Alright." Mandi rose from the table. "It's really common here, though. Some households have multiple sets inside. We have hundreds of working channels, and we also have ways of recording shows and movies. They play back on digital video discs – DVDs – that hold the data of these shows. The thing is...you four are straight out of one of the shows we watch."

"Except you're animated." Katie picked up, following Mandi into the adjoining living room. "You're cartoons, for lack of a better description. Not even _real _actors portraying characters."

Mandi switched on the TV then asked the others to come into the other room so they could see what was being explained. The Sanzo party were briefly entranced by the clear picture quality on the high-definition screen as the young woman began flipping through several channels.

"So you're saying you can watch us on a 'show' by using some kind of disc?" Sanzo inquired, skeptical of the whimsical notion.

"Pretty much." Ashley stated her first words since her two friends started their presentation.

Mandi set the remote down. "We know so much because that show- _Saiyuki_ – has shown us almost everything from the start of your journey toward India. It has even shown pieces of your pasts."

This sent a cold feeling through each of the young men. One's past was something that should be kept there, not revealed to any person who had the fancy of knowing it.

"That's freaky." Goku's eyes rounded, though he was still too enchanted by the young women and their generosity to really think ill of the situation.

Hakkai shifted his weight from one foot to the other, crossing one arm across his chest and wrapped his fingers around the opposite forearm. Whenever he felt invaded, he closed himself off this way, as though his body-language would create an invisible barrier.

"Is this something that is commercially produced? The discs...can anybody watch them?"

Observing the discomfort of the slender man, Mandi frowned. "Yes...well, anybody who has it available to them, which is quite a large market."

She could only imagine how violated Hakkai, or any one of the other three, must have felt. Learning that their lives were on display couldn't be easy.

"The show is a part of a genre called anime, and it originated in Japan. The fandom is fairly...wide-spread. We definitely aren't the only ones who know about you."

"I guess this explains things." Gojyo folded his arms across his chest. "Not sure I feel any better about this, though."

"I want to see these discs." Sanzo decided. "Show us."

"I for one am curious to see what has been revealed." Hakkai agreed solemnly.

Reluctant, Mandi turned the TV off. "Do you really want to see? Wouldn't it be strange?"

"Probably, but I wanna see it, too." Goku backed up his three travel-mates. "You can't just tell us about it and not show us."

"I can go up to my room then and bring down the DVD player and the first disc..."

"So you have a television upstairs?" The monk pressed. "Then don't bother bringing anything down. We'll go up."

As he stepped around the young woman, Ashley hissed out Mandi's name to get her attention. The brunette saw the taller girl pointing upward with fervor, trying to get an unspoken point across.

When it didn't register straight away, Katie leaned over and whispered. "Your room!"

"Oh!" Mandi clamored past the others and threw herself into the doorway leading to the stairs, blocking it. "No, no! Don't go up there."

"What's wrong, got a messy room?" Gojyo teased. "Don't worry, it's nothing we're not used to."

"Although I wish we weren't." Hakkai slipped his green eyes toward his hanyou friend pointedly. "We could do with some more care in cleaning up after ourselves, couldn't we?"

Gojyo scowled, but didn't bother replying.

"It's not that her room is messy- it's pretty clean." Katie laughed as Mandi attempted to keep Sanzo from getting by.

"Move your ass." The blond grumped, not feeling up to any games of Red Rover.

"I like it here, thanks." Mandi rebounded, holding her ground, arms outstretched to either side of the wall.

"What are you hiding?"

"Hiding? Nothing!"

"Then let me pass." Sanzo moved forward until he was well inside her personal space.

"Wow...you don't look as tall up close." Mandi smiled, trying to distract the priest from his goal of getting to the second floor.

Groaning, the monk gripped her wrist, lifted it, and ducked beneath onward to the carpeted staircase.

"That is _so_ not- hey! You're a guest here!" Mandi shouted, but gave up as the other five moved past her and ascended the steps after Sanzo.

Defeated, she trailed the others, mind spinning on the scenario which was about to unfold. How would _she_ feel if she walked into somebody's bedroom and found pictures of herself, and her friends, plastered all over the walls?

Pretty damned terrified, she'd think.

By the time she caught up, the entire group was standing inside of her bedroom. Shock masked the faces of the young men as they spun in a slow circle, absorbing the sight of the colorful papers covering most of the room. While there were posters from a variety of anime series, an entire section of wall and closet was dedicated strictly to Saiyuki.

"Y'know Mandi..." Gojyo began, trying to find the right words to use without being completely insulting. "...ya ever hear of the word 'stalker'?"

Covering her face in mortification, Mandi mumbled what sounded like an apology.

Ashley, unable to conceal her grin, defended her friend. "It's not considered stalking if the people aren't even supposed to exist. We're fans. Fans collect items that have to do with whatever they are interested in. There's nothing wrong with it."

"If you think _this_ is bad, you haven't seen anything." Katie jumped in. "There are people who go above and beyond crazy to get their hands on whatever memorabilia is out there. This...is pretty mild. Think of it as a way of fans showing their support."

"If it wasn't so peculiar, I might be flattered." Hakkai hesitantly conceded.

"I think it's awesome!" Goku exclaimed, examining each poster. It was evident that he wasn't phased at all by anything showing their faces. "It's us, but we're all drawn and stuff. Who did these?"

"I'd like to know, too." Sanzo voiced, leaning in to study a poster of all four men wearing modernized street-clothes. It resembled an embellished version of the type of clothing they saw the people of this realm wearing.

"The person we thought created you." Ashley stated simply. "Her name is Kazuya Minekura. She's an artist in Japan who makes manga."

"Saiyuki is probably her most well-known project." Katie said. "I know this is strange for you, but at least you knew you existed. We never thought it was even _probable_ that you'd just show up here one day."

"Yeah, it's pretty surreal alright." Gojyo scratched his head. "It's not like we thought we'd ever get tossed into some other realm. I didn't even know that was an option."

"Hey, this guy..." Goku pointed at a picture of a man who heavily resembled Sanzo. The face was the same, but the sunny hair was longer and loosely tied back, his head adorned by a wreath of white flowers.

"Konzen." Katie spoke the name aloud without thinking.

The four travelers shared stunned glances. They'd all heard the name spoken before, during their first encounter with the War Prince, Homura.

Could these girls have gotten more out of those DVDs than just the journey toward India?

Mandi clapped her hands together, trying to distract the guys. To fans of Saiyuki it wasn't a secret that the group couldn't recall their previous lives. It would maybe be wrong to divulge any knowledge of it to them.

"So the DVDs, right?" She knelt in front of a shelving unit, pulling out the first volume.

Sanzo nodded curtly as the twenty-two year old worked at turning on the TV and loading the player with the disc.

"Should we leave you guys to watch, or..?"

"I'm staying." Katie insisted, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the King-sized bed. "We said we would do a Saiyuki marathon tonight anyway, so dammit, I'm getting my marathon."

"I'm with her." Ashley said, sliding down to sit on the floor beside the bed. "Even if this isn't how we really planned things."

"Hey, can't complain." Katie replied with a short laugh.

Gojyo and Goku settled onto the floor with their backs against the end of the mattress, while Sanzo made do with standing, leaning against an undecorated section of the wall. Hakkai sat at the edge of the bed and Mandi did the same, though on the opposite side.

Briefly, her stomach somersaulted as her mind had a giddy fan-girl moment over the fact that there was a member of the Sanzo-party sitting on _her_ bed. Picking up the remote, she pushed play, skipping over the DVD menu to allow the first episode to shimmer into view on the screen.

A few minutes into watching, Goku squirmed on the floor and pressed his hands against his stomach which grumbled loudly. He glanced up helplessly.

"Hey..uh, guys..?"

Mandi shot up from the bed. "Still hungry, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Five hundred years without food is a long time. I'll go bring what's left from dinner up."

"Fantastic! Thanks!" Goku's mouth stretched ear-to-ear, eyes shining with gratitude.

When Mandi had made it about halfway down the steps she became all-too aware of a presence behind her. Startled, she misjudged the next step and slid, nearly careening down the rest of the way.

A pair of hands scooped under her arms, pulling her back to keep her steady.

"That's twice I've almost killed you today." Hakkai spoke in a light tone, releasing the young woman as she regained her footing. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Mandi craned her neck to look up at him. "It's not you. I'm just sort of accident prone sometimes." She descended the remaining steps, noting that he followed her.

Catching the questioning gaze, Hakkai laughed airily. "I thought you could use an extra pair of hands. You're going through a lot of trouble just for us."

"No trouble at all, trust me." Mandi rejected the thought. "This is probably the most excitement any of us have had in our lives. I keep thinking... 'when am I going to wake up from this?'. Because I really hope it isn't just some big dream."

Feeling awkward, she cleared her throat, moving into the kitchen and brought down a basket from the top of the refrigerator. As she packed the Chinese cartons into the wicker-weaved container and removed several water bottles from the fridge, she noticed Hakkai pacing the small area of the room. Something was definitely on his mind.

"Hakkai? Are you alright?"

"You said you saw our pasts." He stopped pacing, facing the window and spoke in a voice just above a whisper. "At the table, you let it slip about my name changing. That was on those DVDs?"

Suddenly, Mandi wasn't so sure he should watch anything on those discs. She didn't think any of the guys should. Some memories were hard enough to deal with. Having to literally see it happening all over again could be a horrifying experience.

Sensing that he may have made the young woman uneasy, Hakkai smiled. "Although this situation is foreign to us, nobody here is at fault. Like Gojyo might say, we have to work with the cards we've been dealt. It'll be difficult to see certain things, and I'm apprehensive over what will be shown, but...I won't hide from it. None of us will. Besides, I am rather curious in spite of myself."

He gathered the water bottles into his arms, gazing steadily toward the young woman. "Please, don't feel bad on our account. We can handle it."

Mandi nodded, picking up the basket full of Chinese food, utensils, and napkins. "I know. I just didn't think of how weird it would be for you guys...knowing that we know almost everything about you."

"Everything?" Hakkai queried, a strange vibration moving through him. He had a rather questionable past, and while the girls disclosed they knew a lot about their pasts, he hadn't thought of what that might entail.

"...just about. But we won't judge any of you for it." The young woman promised.

A moment of some sort of understanding passed between the two before Hakkai broke out in a smile. "Alright then. Shall we get back to the others before they think we've gotten lost?"

When the pair returned to the bedroom, everybody was enthralled by the scenes onscreen. Katie and Ashley were mouthing out their favorite and well-known lines, while Gojyo, Goku, and Sanzo's eyes flickered in remembrance of the beginning of their trek.

Reviewing their journey, their stories, every thought and emotion was mind-numbing and unnerving at once. Yet they couldn't stop watching.

Mandi and Hakkai settled back into their original spots, passing around food and drink before joining in watching the arranged entertainment.

Somewhere along the way of the wee hours of the morning, a few volumes into the series, the seven felt their energy drain. Slowly, the low volume of the TV playing lulled the group into sleep right where they sat.


	11. Chapter Ten: Secret Plans

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own Saiyuki nor am I affiliated with Minekura in any way- much to my utter dismay and sadness. No profit is made from this fan fiction apart from the entertainment value to myself, my friends, and you- the reader. All OC's belong to their respectable...selves, and may not be used without permission. _

**Chapter Ten: Secret Plans**

_Houtou Castle, Laboratory_

A textbook description of a typical laboratory might enlist pristine walls, fluorescent lighting, and tidy stations with eye-washes, chain-showers, and drawers filled with everything necessary to perform a perfect experiment. Everything would be in its own place, stacked, stored, and labeled for easy access.

The research facility in the bowels of Houtou Castle would have made even the most lackadaisical scientist scream in horror. The atmosphere reeked of an ominous foreboding. Omniscient colors glowed from an array of computer screens, offering the main source of light in an otherwise dismal area. Wires lay in careless, tangled bunches across the floor or were draped from nooks hidden by the shadows in secret corners. Miscellaneous beakers, tubes, phials, and other random, unnameable purchase were scattered in no particular order on tables and desktops, seemingly forgotten.

If one didn't know better, they'd believe the lab to belong to some kind of pack rat. It was as though a devious mind was desperately clinging to everything that linked to countless tests gone wrong, thinking one day some clue might arise and give a clearer answer.

Yet the room was far from forgotten. The devious mind and culprit of most of the mess hunched over a singular work station, tap-tapping away on the keyboard in front of his console. The machine – not to be found anywhere else in all of Shangri'la- was the product of the deranged genius using it. He had studied technology somewhere, years ago in a different lifetime, and built the network of computers occupying the lab. If anyone else had come up with a like machine, the scientist was certain his functioned the best. But the idea was laughable. Nobody else was quite as clever as he, after all.

A series of high-pitched tones emitted from the computer and the scientist sighed, sitting back in his rolling chair. Half-hooded black eyes, reptilian in their coolness, gleamed toward the ceiling from behind black wire rims. He scratched the dark stubble beneath his chin, smirking around the filtered end of a lit cigarette. It had only been a few hours since he left Lady Koushu's quarters, but he felt a sense of accomplishment since returning to his station.

"Dr. Nii, you know smoking isn't allowed down here." A sharp, female voice pierced the whirring of machinery.

The engineer tucked down his chin, peering at the youkai woman standing before him.

Dr. Huang, a severe scientist with a bombshell body and perfectly bobbed brown hair, held a scrutinizing gaze over her "partner". She considered the man more of a nuisance than a co-worker, but so long as he produced results for Gyokumen Koushu, Huang was stuck with him.

"What's the matter, Huang?" Nii provoked in his ever lilting voice. "Is the 'class president' worried we may burn something...valuable?"

Huang crossed her arms over her ample chest, barely covered by a short, blue dress and lab coat. "There _is_ a sign, Nii. And you know smoke can ruin the equipment. You're allegedly the most brilliant scientist of our time. I'd think you should know better."

The third party within the lab cackled hoarsely from his own computer station, tucked away in a far corner of the lab. Professor Wang, a balding, middle-aged youkai, rarely spoke in full sentences, but seemed to have a very twisted sense of humor. One could speculate that Wang's "condition" was due to the multitude of cables plugged directly into his brain. He was perhaps more computer than living being, though on occasion would voice a shortly put together input.

Nii held up his plush bunny doll, contorting his voice to a halting falsetto.

"Don't...worry... We have the best of...equip-ment. Top of the line..it won't break when things get..._steamy_."

Fuming, Huang clenched her jaw. She despised that damned doll. "Snuff it out!"

Wang cackled again. "Extinguished!"

"Top of the line? What else do you have to compare it to?" Huang seethed, clearly frustrated. "I swear Dr. Nii, you must set time aside just to think of new ways to irritate me."

"Tsk.._aw_." Nii lowered the doll, his fun beginning to be spoiled. "As tempting as that may be, what makes you think that I'd waste any part of my day on _you_, Dr. Huang? I have...much better ways of occupying my..._free time_. Could it be that you've fallen to the despairs of boredom and have...resorted to taking it out on me? I would be more than happy to ...assist you in finding some..._relief._"

Blood rushing to her face, the youkai woman dropped her arms to her sides and balled her hands into tight fists.

"You're disgusting!"

"Our Lady Gyokumen Koushu seems to think differently." The engineer slyly smiled, at last putting out his cigarette against the steel of his desk.

"Ugh!" Huang stretched out her fingers, refraining from using her long nails to claw the man's eyes out. It wouldn't be conducive toward any progress given that Nii was the only one qualified in most scientific fields. Whether she liked it or not, he was their ticket to conducting any experiment they wanted.

"Now, now Dr. Huang. Tell me the _real_ reason you've come to toy with me." The disheveled man said smugly.

Exhaling, the youkai woman drew nearer to the console. "Actually, there are two reasons." Gray eyes flickered over the split screen depicting topographical digital maps from two different areas of Shangri'la. "Has there been any sign of the Sanzo-party?"

"The answer is a disappointing and resounding 'no'." Nii said almost wistfully, like a child lamenting over a lost, favorite plaything.

"Is it possible that your tracking device has failed or malfunctioned?" Huang suggested, partly wishing that _something_ Nii invented would crap out just to knock him down a few pegs. He had never made something that stopped working, but had plenty of his creations destroyed by outside forces. Then again, if not for his gadgets, Huang knew they would have a much harder time gaining any foothold toward their mission to help Koushu retrieve the holy scriptures.

"That isn't what happened." The man snapped, defensive over his work. "Sanzo and company have...vanished. They've up and...disappeared. The computer marked an extremely high spike of kinetic energy of the...Quantum variety."

Dr. Huang crossed her arms once again, this time in skepticism of what the weasel of a man was inferring to. "You're not suggesting _time travel_ are you?"

There she had it. Nii had finally gone off the deep end. She knew it would happen someday.

"So to speak." Coal-colored eyes slipped into a side-long glance of the woman as he pointed to a printout of readings. "Time and space, to be more precise. The numbers here tell of a tear in the fabric of this...world. My theory...is that the four pretty boys got sucked...in."

"What do you mean, _this world? _You said that as though there are others."

Appalled by his partner's lack of understanding, Nii considered quitting while he was ahead. Why explain something of this degree to someone who didn't believe? However, he felt the need to let her in anyhow and educate her puny brain.

"Where is your open mind, Dr. Huang? I am...shocked. You aren't that oblivious, are you?" Nii shook his head. "Time and space...it is far from linear as you know. This...this is not the only time line to exist in a universe so...endless. There are realms beyond us which those of a simple...background couldn't begin to fathom. It is my belief that our...travelers have been...hm, spirited away. Not to worry...they'll surely find a way to return."

Hardly satisfied, but knowing better than to question the notion further, Huang motioned to the screen once more. "My second reason, then. What about the energy you traced?"

Nii handed over a manilla folder thick with research data. "Look for yourself."

Tracing a polished fingernail over the papers within the folder, Huang skimmed the information before casting an impressed look at the monitor. In the lower portion of the screen a yellow beacon marked the location of a forested region.

"Is that Gansu?" Huang queried rhetorically. While all that was given were the latitude and longitude of the general area, she was almost certain of her guess. "...what is all of that energy coming from?"

"That is a secret." Nii replied playfully, taking the files back from the woman.

Her brows knit downward. "Why won't you tell me?"

"I just have!" The human man faced the computer once again, laughing gleefully. "I have a ...notion that this lovely creature is...in hiding."

"A creature? Is it a youkai or something else?" Huang persisted to squeeze more information out of her colleague.

"Ah-ah-ah." Nii waved a finger in the air. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss _all_ of the information. After all... _I've_ done most of the work to find it." He chuckled with wile. "Unless...you feel up to the task of...persuading me to share, hm?"

Aghast at the insinuating tone, Huang's features reddened again. He made her blood boil in such a way she was sure she'd explode from rage someday.

"Is that...repressed sexual tension I see in your eyes, Huang?" The scientist teased. "Or is it embarrassment at your...incompetency behind closed doors?"

Wang laughed heartily from his dark corner, having heard the entire exchanged. "Failure to perform!"

"You're despicable!" Huang stomped a high-heel to the concrete floor, whirling to leave the laboratory.

"Ahh...heading off to practice? I understand." Nii spun his chair about, watching the youkai's retreating figure.

Professor Wang continued his devilish vocalizations as Nii held up his doll once again. Manipulating the arms, the bunny waved at Dr. Huang before the lab door rushed closed.

"Bye. Bye."

_**Kougaiji's Chambers**_

Prince Kougaiji paced the well-decorated confines of his private chambers. The echoes of his clipped gait bounced off of the cold walls, offering the only other noise louder than his thoughts. The youkai was still distraught over what he had overheard mere hours ago, and attempting to learn more about the energy Nii found became difficult once the scientist and Koushu had retired to the demoness' quarters. That was one place where Kougaiji refused to eavesdrop. He had no desire to listen for clues between whatever else went on in that harlot witch's room.

His heart and soul, however, swam with the intent to acquire the living being before his "step-mother" got her dirty paws on it. There was no way that Gyokumen Koushu would entrust the task to Kougaiji. Not when there was so much potentially at stake.

The lavender-eyed prince had to get the jump on obtaining that force if he was to holster any chance of freeing Rasetsunyo.

In the short time since his handy spy-work, Kougaiji had some loyal servants act as his eyes and ears. While none were allowed inside of the basement laboratory, they were permitted to bring food and leave it outside of the doorway. Just recently, a maid girl had reported to him that she caught wind of a word that may be important.

The maid, a sprite of a girl no more than fifteen, had been picking up dishes from outside of the lab when the doors opened for Dr. Nii to enter. She had risked herself by lingering nearby for nearly twenty minutes as a conversation ensued inside. It was not all for nothing, however. The youkai girl had returned to Kougaiji, pretending to bring him food and drink, and whispered a single word to him.

_Gansu._

The prince thanked her, rewarding her with the very meal she'd brought to him, then sent the maid on her way.

He assumed that the single word meant that the energy was somewhere within the Gansu Forest, but without knowing precisely what he sought the feat would be more trying than looking for a needle in a haystack.

Nevertheless, it was a good implication of where to start. He could comb the forest end to end if he had to. Given that opportunity Kougaiji was certain he would locate whatever had Nii and Koushu in such a tizzy. After all, _he_ had been the one to successfully unearth a scripture that had been lost, buried beneath a ton of desert sand. An energy force as supreme as Nii described should be traced easily enough once Kougaiji caught the barest hint of it.

Youkai had such extraordinary senses that they tasted, smelled, and felt at an entirely different caliber than any human could. A demon of strong will could also detect the chi from a living entity at superior levels compared to weak-minded youkai.

The only one who seemed to rival Kougaiji's level of awareness was the Sanzo priest leading his three comrades West toward India. The prince abhorred the idea, but he knew that in a spiritual way, none could compare to that blond excuse of a Buddhist monk. He truly made a formidable foe.

But the infamous priest was the least of Kougaiji's worries.

If Koushu asked of it, he would of course take his leave to hunt down the troublesome group. He had to keep up the appearance of still being under her oppressive thumb until he was ready to overthrow her.

It wouldn't be difficult to sway the youkai of Houtou to join his side once that happened. Most of the demons served Koushu out of fear for their lives. After seeing examples of what fate they faced if they were to refuse their new mistress, the servants pledged their allegiance to the green-haired demoness.

Some might have thought it cowardly, to forsake one's freedom to serve a tyrant such as Gyokumen Koushu, but Kougaiji understood it to be a tactical move.

They had tasted freedom, however briefly, when Gyumaoh had been defeated and imprisoned. The day would come when their freedom would be gifted back to them, and they were biding their time until Kougaiji could bring about such a revolution. In secret, the servants would whisper of their true loyalties. Those words always managed to circle back to Kougaiji, giving him a boost toward his resolute goal. Lirin, Yaone, or Dokugakuji were also behind him one-hundred percent. They would never dream of leaving his side which reminded the prince of what he truly fought for. His mother was certainly important, but so were the people supporting him.

While Yaone and Dokugakuji spoke of serving their "Lord Kougaiji", the carmine-haired demon had stopped thinking of them as mere subjects long ago. Contemplating upon that, he wasn't sure he ever thought of them in such a way to begin with. They were his friends, and damned good ones. He trusted them explicitly- even with his very life- which was why he needed to protect them.

"Kou?" Someone called from the arched doorway.

He hadn't even heard it open.

Turning, Kougaiji saw the tall, hulking figure of Dokugakuji standing just over the threshold. The youkai lord raised his chin, acknowledging his friend's presence.

"What is it?"

Dokugakuji entered the room, running a sinewy hand through his bristled black hair. "Lirin was talkin' to Yaone just now. About you. She said somethin' was up...that you seemed to be acting weird."

"Lirin..." Kougaiji bowed his head for a moment, silently cursing that the girl had ever found him. "She's only upset because I didn't have time to play some stupid game with her."

"Is that it, then?" Dokugakuji asked, silvery eyes resting on his leader. "Or is she right? Is somethin' bugging you?"

Scowling, Kougaiji mentally cursed his brat of a half-sister again. If she had stayed with Yaone like she was supposed to, he wouldn't be in this position. She just _had_ to make things complicated by opening her big, loud mouth.

"She loves ya, Kou." The broad-shouldered youkai said in a tone that seemed too gentle for his deep tenor.

Wondering how the built youkai always seemed to know what he was thinking, Kougaiji considered the truth of the statement. Perhaps Lirin did act out of concern for her older brother. Her curiosity had been piqued, certainly, and now that Dokugakuji was involved...well, Kou knew that his friend was not going to leave without a straight answer.

"I've just been thinking about something lately. Lirin caught me at a bad time, that's all." The prince wondered if this would be enough to quell Dokugakuji's worry, but it was all he was willing to say.

Even though Kougaiji knew his friends would stand behind him he couldn't purposely place them in danger. They'd had many close calls before, but this was a situation that might really claim one of their lives.

Unfortunately for the tanned youkai, his attempt at pacifying his friend had failed. Dokugakuji expelled a long breath. He didn't want to make waves, but he couldn't leave without a more solid answer. At the risk of being kicked out, he persevered.

"I think I know better than to believe you were just thinking, Kou. Lirin said she found you outside of the throne room. Did you...hear something inside?"

Kou studied his comrade before walking to a balcony window. A black dawn consumed the castle; mists spurning forth from somewhere around the perimeter were laden with the negativity of the Minus Wave created by Dr. Nii. Every day was bleak at Houtou, starting from when Koushu riled and forced support from the youkai within the walls and the surrounding area. Like any slimy politician it'd all been a play for power. Once Koushu gained what she'd wanted, she repaid the people by making them the first test-dummies for the science and black magic mixture.

She had to be stopped.

"I overheard Nii speaking with Koushu." Kougaiji said at a length. "It seems he found some kind of living energy in Gansu Forest."

"An energy? Like another scripture?" Dokugakuji asked, not fully comprehending what the prince was getting to.

"No...supposedly this force is so strong that whomever possesses it may be able to revive Gyumaoh without the help of the sutras."

"Damn..." Dokugakuji breathed, crossing muscular arms over his chest. "Wouldn't that get the bitch off your back, though?"

"He's worried that if Lady Koushu doesn't need the holy scriptures anymore, she'll go back on her promise to free his mother."

The two youkai men faced the woman standing in the doorway. Yaone turned, shutting the door and then approached them. Her tangerine colored eyes shone with sympathy from behind a fringe of deep violet hair. Meeting her gaze, Kougaiji knew she had heard everything.

"Where is Lirin?"

The apothecary smiled gently. "She fell asleep after eating. Forgive my assumption, but the probability that Lady Koushu will break her word is high, isn't it?"

"Yaone is right." Dokugakuji conceded. "Koushu ain't exactly trustworthy. She'll screw you over first chance she gets."

Kougaiji glanced at the closed door before moving to lock it. He wouldn't chance the wrong ears overhearing something they shouldn't. Despite a high percentage of loyalty to him there were still a few snaky demons who would sooner run to Koushu's feet just to gain favor.

"I've already thought of that. It's why I plan to find this force first." Kougaiji resumed his pacing. "First she sends us to deal with the Sanzo party to steal his sutras. Then she's got us running errands like we're her personal servants. It's only a matter of time before we're downgraded to nothing at all."

"That doesn't sound too bad." Dokugakuji raised thick eyebrows. "We'd have her outta our hair, right?"

"That doesn't guarantee Lord Kougaiji's safety." Yaone disagreed.

"Or yours." Kougaiji reminded. "I won't allow that...selfish bitch to continue dangling me from a thread waiting to be cut. I'm going to find that energy source first, and then it will be _her_ bowing to _me._ My mother's spell will break and she'll be freed. Koushu will be cast out like trash, and Gyumaoh will remain sealed, where he belongs."

Yaone laid a hand over her heart as though it would dispel the worry cast in her bright eyes. The determination she so admired in her prince was beginning to frighten her.

"Lord Kougaiji, would it be wise bringing something so mighty back to Houtou? What if Lady Koushu manages to get her hands on it once it's here?"

Dokugakuji curled his upper lip in disdain. "Worse yet, what if that slime-ball Nii gets to it?"

"Do you honestly think that man has the ability to wield something so powerful?" Kou scoffed. "I don't plan on returning until I'm positive it's under my control anyway."

The muscular youkai furrowed his brows. "When are you leaving then? Are you sure this thing is going to listen to you?"

"That is _my _concern, not yours!" Kougaiji snapped, wheeling around on him.

The two youkai stepped back, stunned. Lately, their dear prince had a tendency of falling into foul moods at the slightest sign of displeasure. Each day that passed seemed to bring Kougaiji closer to being swallowed by whatever blackness was inside. There were times when shouts and cries of frustration reverberated eerily from his quarters like some distraught spirit haunting the corridors.

They began to fear for his sanity. Should Kougaiji's mind weaken enough, he might succumb to the effects of the Minus Wave, losing himself entirely. How much more torment would he endure on his own before accepting the help of his friends?

Noticing the preoccupation of his friends, Kougaiji breathed deeply, calming himself. Remorse flooded his soul for being so harsh. They cared for him and acted or spoke out _because_ they cared; he would reward them with coldness?

"I'm sorry." He spoke softly, turning his back. "This is something that _I_ must do no matter if it means I'm endangering myself. I will figure out how to control the creature...somehow."

Yaone shifted closer, laying her fingers upon his shoulder. "Then please, don't do this on your own."

The youkai prince held his resolve, setting his jaw tight.

"Kou, let us go with you." Dokugakuji pleaded. "I vowed never to let harm come to ya- and I already failed in that once. I won't fail again. Who is gonna help if this thing is too much for even you to handle?"

Sighing, Kou closed his twilight eyes. "There are some dangers that I refuse to subject you to, try to understand that. And what about Lirin? If you both come with me and we fail, who will look after her?"

"I'll go." Yaone said quickly, avoiding the glare from Dokugakuji. "If you get hurt, I can heal your wounds. Dokugakuji can stay behind with Lirin and keep her guarded."

Although the tall youkai didn't seem thrilled at having to babysit, he knew that it was the most sensible choice. Yaone was a strong fighter, she was intelligent, innovative, and in the event that Kougaiji was injured, she could provide medical attention. Dokugakuji was a strong fighter, but his friend needed more than just muscle on such a trek.

"I said I'm going alone, weren't you listening?" Kou insisted, though his iron will was falling away in chunks.

"Kou. Please let us do this. Don't be selfish. You're not the only one who wants to see that witch gone."

Surprised, Kougaiji looked between the pair. Their faces were wrought with their steadfast belief that he should have one of them with him.

This was what he'd wanted to avoid, however there was some comfort in knowing they were so willing to put their lives on the line for him. For Houtou. For his mother.

He couldn't say, either, that it would grant some peace of mind, some balm to frayed nerves to have one of them with him.

"Fine. Yaone will come with me. Neither of you had better let this slip to Lirin." Kou pointed a long finger at them. "If she finds out, you know she'll do something silly. I can't have that brat meddling in this affair or she'll get herself killed."

Yaone shared a smile with Dokugakuji as their leader rested himself in the arms of a thick-cushioned armchair. They were more than relieved that they'd broken him down.

"Yes, Lord Kougaiji." Yaone nodded.

"Not a word to the munchkin." Dokugakuji agreed.

Informing his friends that he would need another day to get situated for the trek, he left them with one favor.

"Yaone, meet me at midnight. I am going to need your skills for a bit of...trickery."

"Of course." The youkai woman smiled, bowing her head.

With no more questions to ask, the guardians left the room as Kougaiji schemed in the dark.


End file.
